More Than One in a Million
by shady-chalise
Summary: Two war weary people meet in Paris one December afternoon. Winters/OC
1. Chapter 1The Officer Across the Way

Though I've written fanfictions for years, this is the first time I've ever published anything, so be gental. Watched the series, read the book, loved the book more, but since I thought of this idea when I watched the movie, this story will take place according to how the that went. I don't own anything but my charaters and such....so enjoy!

Captain Dick Winters let the burn of coffee slowly slip down his throat as he listened to the Airmen and Marines go on behind him. If he'd been a different type of man, maybe like Nixon or definitely like Harry, he would have turned around and said something. He could just picture the insuring brawl if Harry or Lewis had been with him, crashing its way through the tables of the small, outdoor café and into the busy Parisian street. However, he wasn't that type of man, so he just let them carry on and enjoy themselves. They very well could be lying dead somewhere in a month. Still, he couldn't help but turn his shoulder so that the screaming eagle patch and his bars were clearly visible to the guys behind him.

Dick wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. When Nix put that paper down in front of him and said what it was, he didn't believe him. Even when he opened and looked over the pass he wanted to congratulate the intelligence officer and Lt Welsh for their zealous effort in the prank. Though he didn't want to go, Dick still promised Lewis he'd take it easy and enjoy himself. However, being among civilization only confused him. He felt as though he was in a dream. He was clean, warm, dry and not hungry. The sun was shining warmly on his fair-skinned face and the sounds of the busy city replaced the sound of the base and the battlefield. It made him wonder if everything else he'd experienced before now had really happened. Had he really jumped out of a plane with thousands of tracer rounds brushing past him? Had he really survived all the horrors of D-Day and the month after? Though it'd only been a few short months ago, it seemed eons ago. Then again, some days it felt like only yesterday he was getting on the train for basic training.

He hadn't seen any real action since early October, unless one included the night Moose was shot. Instead, he'd been stuck writing reports and signing every scrap of paper that kid shoved at him for the past three months. He missed the men. He missed being around them and most of all he missed leading them.

Though he'd never admit it, he loved the thrill of carrying out a well planned, successful attack; like at Brecourt Manor. It made all the training and hell he'd been through worth it. That's why he hated failing and retreating. It must have been the competitiveness in him.

Of course, he was scared senseless when he ran into an attack with bullets flying all around him, but instead of that fear working against him, it drove him to fight harder, smarter, and longer. Dick didn't fear dying, he was afraid of his men dying, and now he had to sit back and sign the dotted line while his men ran off to battle. Yes, he still commanded them in a sense, but now Lieutenant Dike, who Dick had very little confidence in, held their lives in his hands. Easy Company, his company, risked life and limb while Dick risked getting carpal tunnel; it wasn't what he signed up for. Dick found it hard to enjoy himself in Paris when he knew he'd be returning to that nightmare in two days.

Nevertheless, Dick was going to try his damnedest to relax, but the Pennsylvania farm boy was a bit lost for ideas in the City of Lights. Sure, there was plenty to do, but hardly any he would do. He seemed to have made a reputation of being a do-gooder Puritan. He didn't smoke, but he might as well have because he breathed in a pack a day from the rest of the men and he'd been cured of drinking when he was 16 by his father, a threshing machine, and a 100 degree July day. It was hard to believe, but the calm, reserved Captain had once been the black sheep of the well-respected Winters family. Dick had tested and found his limits many times in many ways when he was young. After getting all that out of his system, Dick tried to go about life with a clear head and clean set of lungs.

A group of sailors got up from the table across from him, revealing a lone woman sitting at the table in the corner. Dick wasn't quite sure why she had caught his attention. There were hundreds of people in his line of vision and yet she was all he could see. He had a feeling her uniform was the reason.

He normally wasn't one to stare, but he couldn't help but watch as she finished off the last of her coffee. Her brown hair was pulled back in a neat bun at the base of her neck. On top of that hair was a service cap and on her lapel was a serpent wrapped around a cross and a large 'N'. She was a nurse. Her eyes flickered down to the drink on her right. She looked at it like it was something she needed to conquer, but didn't want to.

His inability to take his eyes off of her probably had something to do with the fact she was very beautiful. The afternoon sun cast a glow over her, making it look like she was glowing. Dick watched nurse for five or so more minutes. In the back of his head he was somewhat waiting to see if she was waiting for someone. Probably a young, good-looking GI whose finger she bandaged once, he mused.

Dick help couldn't but be a bit pessimistic when it came to women. It always seemed as though he was a day late and a dollar short when it came to them. Unlike many of his fellow soldiers, the opposite sex hadn't been on his mind much. After all there was this little situation called a war going on. Still, he continued to watch her as she absent-mindedly drew circles with her finger tips on the white table cloth.

Then, she abruptly turned her head to scan her surroundings. Dick ducked his eyes back down to the brochure he'd been holding, hoping she hadn't caught him staring. She craned her neck around to look behind her and he caught the silver bar glimmer in the sunlight on her shoulder.

She was a first Lieutenant. The Captain suddenly felt himself get a dose of reality.

Fraternization with Army personnel of a lower rank could be punished by court marshal for conduct unbecoming. Though women weren't in any sort of combat, they still played a major part in the Army. He could still recall Sobel's rather 'enjoyable' and informative speech about getting involved with any female personnel.

Dick shook his head at the thought of his former commander. He sighed and went back to his brochure.

That brawl became clearer and clearer in his head after a little while when a guy behind him knocked him in the back, almost causing him to spill his coffee in his lap. If only Nix had been there with him, but he wasn't. He was back in Aldbourne breaking the very same rule Dick was trying not to break himself. His eyes couldn't help but glance back over to the nurse, who was sliding that untouched drink away from her. He sighed and collected his things as he stood up. He dug for some money and quietly groaned as one of the coins slipped through his fingers and clattered against the pavement. He ducked down to pick it up and as he came back up, he noticed the nurse was leaving. He watched as she navigated her way through the tables and onto the crowed sidewalk.

Dick left what he hoped was the right amount and started walking in the same direction. He wasn't purposely following her, but she was going the same way he had planned on…at least that's what he told himself. They walked about a block before she stopped at an intersection and looked up at her surroundings. She a lost look on her face, but not the 'I'm can't find my way' lost. It was the 'where do I go now lost'. He knew that look. He'd had that same look since he'd stepped off the train earlier that afternoon.

Suddenly, a group of young Frenchmen came running down the sidewalk as though they were running for their lives. They blew past Dick and the nurse like a freight train. He received an elbow in the arm, but his eyes snapped over to the nurse who was dangerously teetering backwards. Suddenly, his combat reflexes kicked in. Dick didn't think. He just sprung into action.

* * *

First Lieutenant Rosemary Beyer breathed in the smoggy, Parisian air. Normally, the Midwestern farm girl found any sort of urban air stifling, but to her it was refreshing. There wasn't a hint of blood, burnt flesh, or sweaty soldiers in the crisp December air. Rose was a nurse in the Army and had been stationed in several aid stations and tented hospitals. The men did all the fighting and cleared the way, but the nurses cleaned up the mess.

It was only the beginning of the US's involvement in the second Great War in northern Europe, and already she'd seen enough horrors to last a lifetime. She landed on Normandy beach on D-Day plus four and walked five miles through Rommel's flooded fields to the first medical station. While there, she and the other nurses slept, or tried to at least, to the sounds of artillery rounds and the moans of wounded men under flimsy tents on the damp ground. Before that, she'd been stationed at a hospital in North Africa, but only for a few months before being shipped to England. Back there, she was saw many horrors, but none compared to the ones on the beaches and country side of Normandy.

Rose had won a 48 hour pass to Paris. Ever since she'd joined the Army Nurse Corps, Rose had only used up two days of leave and those had been spent sleeping. What she didn't know was that Captain Kent, one of the doctors, and her best friend rigged the lottery so the young nurse could get a break. They had watched her rub her tired feet and aching eyes. They noticed the gauntness in her cheeks and the paleness of her skin. She was by far the hardest working and best nurse in the whole regiment, but she didn't act like she was. She was a one of the few 1st Lieutenants and so she did have authority over most of the other nurses, but she didn't abuse it. She just did her job.

After checking into the hotel, she studied a map and tried to find something to do. Rose had always been the quiet one in the crowd. Her close friends and family found her dry sense of humor and uncanny timing to be hilarious, yet Rose didn't try to be the life of the party, ever. Nor had Rose been to very many big cities, especially alone. She wasn't afraid to go out by herself, just unsure of what she was supposed to do by herself. Her friend and fellow nurse, Annie Scofield, told her about a few good places to go and she promised her she wouldn't waste this leave. Rose wandered around like a typical tourist for a few hours before finding that café.

Rose enjoyed her first cup of real coffee in a very long time. The aroma filled her senses and sent her back thousands of miles and many years. Some days, Rose couldn't believe she'd been to all the places she'd been and seen the things she'd seen. Five years ago, her life was going down a totally different road. She was just barely out of college and was teaching in a small school house a mile from home when her best friend volunteered to be a nurse in the Navy. Rose used to get letters upon letters describing how beautiful Hawaii was and how she didn't think anything would ever happen. But, something did and the day after Molly's funeral, Rose joined the Army.

When Rose sat down, it had been pretty quiet, but then a few groups of soldiers from all different branches filled up the small outdoor space. Rose only prayed to god that they'd leave her be. She dealt with enough wanna-be Romeos every day. Actually, she had a great deal of fun dealing with the overly flirty GI's. Her sly and sarcastic humor came in quite handy and so far, the boys seemed to enjoy bantering with her. She had fight fire with fire because it kept her from falling for the female-deprived soldiers' charms. But, even the best entertainers needed a vacation every now and then.

Unlike most of the young woman who had joined the Nurse Corps, Rose wasn't looking for romance. Though relationships weren't totally against the rules, they were so carefully regulated that it was almost not even worth it. Almost every single nurse in the Corps was an Army equivalent 2nd Lieutenant. That way, the women had authority over the majority of soldiers they treated and worked with. It also meant that because they outranked the privates and sergeants, they couldn't get involved with them. Although, that didn't stop the rest of the nurses in her company from having their wartime flings anyway.

She wasn't as strict about it with her nurses as some of the other higher ranking officers were. There was one particular Lieutenant who practically walked around with a ruler and chastised any nurse who got any closer than six inches to patient, and suffice to say, she wasn't very well liked. Rose just reminded her nurses that they had taken an oath, and at the very least to have some discreetness. A few of her nurses had been disciplined with latrine duty after she'd found them not practicing the latter, so they knew that even though she was lenient, she wasn't a pushover and they really respected her.

Part of her success as a leader was leading by example. And though she often caught flack from her friends, she had made up her mind that she wouldn't fall for every good-looking soldier that came in on a stretcher or looked sharp in a uniform. Rose seemed to be really good at setting herself for failure when it came to men anyway. She'd get her hopes up so high and then they'd come crashing down instantly when she'd learn they had a girl back home or had some repulsive habit. Therefore, she just decided that there were more important things to worry about. Like, staying alive, writing reports, keeping the men alive, air raids, inventories, landmines, and all those wonderful things found in a war. However, it was hard focus one's mind of those things when having a smoke with a cute GI was all three-fourths the nurses in her company seemed to worry and always talk about. Still, it didn't mean she couldn't look and dream. She was just a woman after all.

Her eyes subtly scanned the café that was bustling with uniforms. Most of them were hardly in their twenties or were much older officers. Rose was, according to her great aunt, a ripe old maid at the age of 23, though the last few years had made her feel many years older.

Behind a group of sailors, Rose did catch a glimpse of a redheaded Army paratrooper. He was reading something and seemed to be fairly engrossed by the way his brow was creased and lips were slightly parted in concentration. He was very good looking, but not the movie star-cookie cutter good looks that so many of the soldiers she'd met had; his looks were unique. He had an air of authority as well, which she guessed was the reason he wore two bars on his shoulders and cap.

A sailor leaned back and blocked her view and Rose looked away and shook her head. He was probably married with three cute, redheaded kids running around back home.

Suddenly, a waiter appeared next to her table with a drink. Rose looked up at him slightly annoyed. She hadn't ordered a drink and she had a suspicion that it wasn't a mistake either.

"Mademoiselle, courtesy of the gentlemen over zere."

He set it down and mentioned to a table of young Privates, who were winking and snickering.

"Thank you." She told the waiter, but just ignored the boys at the other table. Technically, she could have chewed them out, but didn't feel like it.

She looked down at the drink and could tell it was just cheap brandy. Part of her wanted to drink it just because she hadn't had a drink since before Normandy, but yet she didn't want to drink it because it would give the boys, who weren't even old enough to have a drink, a thrill. So she just let it sit there and get warm while she watched the hundreds of faces filter by.

After a few minutes, she couldn't help but feel like someone was watching her. She calmly turned her head and swore that Captain Redhead had looked away from her. The sailors had left and she now had a clear view of him. His facial expression had changed. His mouth was pursed and his eyes didn't seem to be moving like he was reading anymore. Maybe she was just seeing things, she told herself as she turned back around. After a few more minutes of sitting there doing nothing, Rose pushed that drink away and picked up her purse. She was getting tired and a real, queen bed and a real bathtub were waiting for her back in the hotel.

She threw a few coins onto the table and glanced towards the Captain. She felt a slight twinge in her chest when she saw that he had disappeared, but quickly brushed it off and closed her purse. Just my luck, she mused. She weaved her way towards the sidewalk and just followed the flow of the crowd, not really knowing where she wanted to go.

She stopped at an intersection she remembered. Go strait and she'd head back to the hotel, but it was only four in the afternoon. Rose looked around at the buildings above her. She wished she was back at the hospital, at least there she didn't feel so out of place.

Out of nowhere, Rose suddenly felt something wiz by behind her. She instinctively jumped forward, only to have another figure crash into her front, sending her teetering backwards. She stuck out her arms to receive the cold, hard pavement…

...but the pavement never came. Rose found her torso suspended in mid-air. Then, before she could comprehend her situation, a pair of strong arms easily lifted her back to her feet. As soon as she was firmly back on her feet, she hastily straitened her skirt before turning around to face her savior. She was poised to gush 'thank you', but was rendered speechless when she met her saviors face.


	2. Chapter 2 One in a Hundred Thousand

"Are you alright, Lieutenant?" Dick asked the young woman, who looked as though she'd seen a ghost.

Dick had taken a calming breath after removing his hands from her slender waist. It had been the closest he'd been to a female since that random woman kissed him in Holland.

Rose's mouth opened and closed like a fish, trying to find the ability to speak. She just couldn't believe it that out of the hundreds of thousands of people in Paris at that very moment, it just so happened to be the handsome, redheaded Captain she'd been gawking at earlier was the one who'd caught her.

He'd gone the other way hadn't he?

Rose stared up into his eyes. They were the most peculiar color she'd ever seen. They were very light blue when one looked them alone, but when paired with the rest of his features, they had a greenish tint.

Dick placed a comforting hand on her upper arm.

"Are you ok?" he asked the silent woman again.

Dick looked down into the Lieutenant's wide, brown eyes and smiled slightly. She was a good six inches shorter than him, but she still stood tall with her shoulders back. Her eyes were the warmest shade of brown he'd ever seen, like the color of polished walnut wood, and they were surrounded by long, thick lashes. She had an angular, delicate, feminine face that seemed to be perfectly proportioned. Dick didn't want to say that she was too pretty to be a nurse, but she looked like she belonged on a movie screen. He couldn't imagine her up to her elbows in blood and guts.

Rose mentally slapped herself in the face and tried to remember how to speak.

"Uh, ye-yes Captain." She stuttered. Rose looked up into his kind eyes and for a moment she felt like the entire city had disappeared. She then found herself smiling and her confidence returning. She reached up to re-adjust her cap and pulled her coat back down. "But I believe, Sir, you just cost me a Purple Heart."

Dick laughed and Rose couldn't help but notice what an endearing crooked smile he had.

"I apologize Lieutenant." He smiled with one of his fine, red eyebrows quirked. "If you would like, I could direct you to the pothole that nearly took me out and you could try again."

Rose laughed and offered her hand to him. His eyes flickered down and he promptly took it.

"First Lieutenant Rosemary Beyer, sir."

"Captain Richard Winters."

"Nice to meet you, sir." Rose smiled. She liked his voice. It was slightly raspy, but not harsh. It was like no voice she'd ever heard.

Dick was surprised by the firm grip her slender hand produced. It wasn't soft and smooth like one would expect from a good looking woman. The back of her hand was dry and rough; no doubt the result of being covered in blood and scrubbed raw with harsh disinfectants all the time.

An uncomfortable silence befell the two after they broke the handshake. Rose fiddled with the flap of her pocket and Dick swallowed hard. Part of him was waiting for her to thank him, say it was nice meeting him again and then say good-bye, but a small ounce of him was hoping they could spend some more time together.

"What brings you to Paris Lieutenant Beyer?" Dick asked, deciding he'd make the encounter last somehow.

Rose let out a puff of air and chuckled halfheartedly.

"Honestly sir, I have no idea. They had a raffle back at my evacuation hospital. I won a 48 hour pass. Apparently, I have some amazing luck, because I don't even remember putting in my name." Rose rolled her eyes and shrugged.

Dick chuckled in the same manner. "I know what you mean."

"Can I assume you're enjoying the city as much as I am, Captain Winters?" Rose smirked.

"Oh, I'm having a blast." Dick replied sarcastically and smiled.

Rose laughed. At least she knew now that she wasn't the only one.

Rose wanted to ask him if he had plans, but she knew it would have been very inappropriate for a nurse to ask a higher ranking officer that. Rose wasn't that bold anyway; Captain or not. Besides, no war time flings, she reminded herself.

Dick looked around the busy corner and sighed heavily.

"Well…" he was trying to be nonchalant. He wished Nixon was there, he would have been able to keep the situation light. "Ah, you know any good place to grab dinner?"

Rose was momentarily surprised, as was Dick that he'd been able to choke it out. It wasn't inappropriate to ask a lower ranking officer to join him for a meal. Perhaps he was toeing the line with the fact she was a female officer, but something just came over him and he couldn't resist the urge to spend more time with the nurse. She just had this look about her.

"Uh…" Rose's mind was screaming 'think think', but she didn't even like French food let alone know any restaurants. "I'm afraid not sir. Actually," her eyes twinkled and a sly smirk formed on her bowed lips. "I was looking for a place that had nothing but S.O.S. and beans."

Dick chuckled. She reminded him a little of Nixon with her sarcastic humor.

"Well, I'm sure we could find something." Dick smirked and motioned her to accompany him with his arm.

* * *

An hour later, they found themselves sitting on a bench looking out over the Riviera.

"I never would have imagined…" Rose mused as she pulled back the paper wrapper from her sad looking hotdog. "Home of the finest cuisines and restaurants in all the world and you spot a hotdog stand."

Dick laughed and took a bite. He never had been fond of hotdogs back home, but at the moment it was the best thing he'd ever tasted. He looked down at the little picnic they had sitting between them on the bench that, besides the hotdogs, included a bag of popcorn and two bottles of Coco-Cola.

"That vender is the one laughing though." He said as he wiped a bit of mustard off the corner of his mouth with his thumb. "I bet he's making a fortune."

"No doubt." Rose smiled. "Didn't you hear him say 'God Bless America' after you paid him?"

Dick chuckled and took in everything around him. The scars of war were still ugly in the city, but there were signs of healing; mostly the people seemed to be healing. They were full of life and vivacious as ever. He popped the top off his Coke and took a swig. His blue eyes flickered over the striking nurse beside him. Her eyes were trained on a group of children playing tag down the hill from them. He could see a sense of longing in her eyes and noticed the tiny sigh that escaped her chest.

"Do you have any kids back home?" he asked without thinking.

Rose whipped her head around at the sound of his voice. She scrunched her forehead and flashed her eyes back over towards the children she'd been watching. She tried to ignore that proverbial pain in her chest. She felt it every time somebody asked if she had children.

"Oh. No, no. I'm not married." Rose replied hastily, maybe a bit too hastily.

Dick was slightly embarrassed and felt stupid. He looked down at his half-eaten hotdog. Of course she didn't have kids. If she did, she'd be back in the states taking care of them. Most nurses weren't married, engaged maybe, but he didn't think married women were allowed to join any Military branch.

"I was a teacher back in Wisconsin." She told him, noticing the slight blush creeping up from under his collar.

He looked back up at her with the corner of his mouth curled up slightly. He smiled more when his eyes meant her warm, brown ones. He could see her being a teacher with that kind, trusting gaze. He leaned back and draped his elbows across the back of the bench.

"You miss it?" he asked.

"Teaching or Wisconsin?" she joked and smiled at Dick's indifferent shrug.

"Either I guess."

Rose sighed sadly, but laughed it off.

"Well, I do miss both, some days more than others though. Never ceases to amaze me how Wisconsin can be like the Arctic in the winter and as hot as Arizona in the summer. I love it there though. It's a lot like Pennsylvania I guess, but with hills instead of mountains."

Dick smiled, thinking of his home as well.

"And the kids." She continued. "I really do miss them. I had a really great class. I felt pretty bad about leaving them. But, I'll tell yah," she wagged a finger at him. "I don't miss those older farm boys. I'd rather evacuate during an air raid then deal with that rowdy bunch in the winter."

Dick chuckled. He knew what she was talking about. He used to be one of those rowdy farm boys. He finished the last bite of his hotdog and wiped his hands with a napkin.

"What about you?" Rose asked, "Do you have a family back home?" She watched his eyes suddenly turn very distant and his shoulders slump ever so slightly. Rose's heart leapt a bit when he shook his head, but she quickly scolded herself. She could tell something was hurting him.

"Nope," he said, clearing his throat. That pain she saw a second ago was quickly masked. "Just a few nieces and nephews."

"Those are the best." She smiled, trying to rekindle the mood. "Spoil them rotten and then send 'em back. Repayment for all the times my older brother locked me in the chicken coop and left spiders in my bed."

They both laughed. It seemed that once that elephant was out of the room, they really kicked it off. They spent the next few hours talking about everything. The more they talked, the more they realized how alike they were. Both had grown up on small farms that somehow made it through the depression and they'd both gone to small colleges. They shared stories about their childhood and the crazy adventures she and her brothers carried out. Dick found himself relaxing for the first time in a very long time. With every chuckle, he eased up a little more and opened himself up.

Rose saw this. His emotions came across clearer and clearer the more he laughed. Most people saw him as being a very blank person, hardly raising an eyebrow at anything. However, his facial expressions were so subtle that one hardly noticed. Being a teacher, she was an expert at reading people. Her kids could never get away with anything because she could see right through them. Her brothers often said she would have made one hell of a cop had she been a man. Rose had only spent a few hours with him, and already she could read the Captain like an open book.

They talked about everything well after the sun had dipped below the cityscape. Then Dick and Rose walked side-by-side down the lighted streets. For the first time, Rose found herself smiling for no reason. There wasn't that suffocating weight on her chest that had been there since she'd joined the Army.

Dick felt the same way. If it wasn't for their reflection in the glass, store windows, he would have forgotten they were even in a war.

However, both their moods were suddenly brought back to reality when they rounded a corner…


	3. Chapter 3 Rose's Pain

The two officers stood solemnly under a street light as they watched a truck load of caskets being unloaded in front of a funeral parlor. They could hear the muffled wails from the mothers and wives of the deceased French soldiers. Dick looked down at Rose, who let out a shuddering breath. He could see the pain pooling in her deep, brown eyes and the tears glistening on the rims. He couldn't imagine how many of those caskets she saw every day. A little part of him died with every one of his men he'd lost, but compared to her, he hadn't seen anything.

Dick slipped his hand down around hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. That warm hand broke the nurse out of her trance. Her eyes snapped up to his sympathetic ones and Rose suddenly felt very feeble and weak. She quickly wiped the forming tears away and straitened her shoulders.

"Huh," she despondently laughed "didn't think I was even cable of doing that anymore."

Dick squeezed her hand again. "You're only human."

She smiled sorrowfully up at him and grasped his strong hand back.

"I wish that I was more than that. Maybe I wouldn't have to put so many in those damned things."

Dick didn't let go of her hand. Instead, he gently pulled her along and they walked back towards the train station. They strolled quite awhile in silence, both slowly slipping back into their own little, painful worlds. Rose thought of all the lives she hadn't saved. Dick thought of all the lives he had taken.

Occasionally, Dick looked down at the sad, beautiful woman whose hand he still held. She looked much older than her 23 years. What the hell was she doing in this mess anyway? She should have been back home, married, with children running up to her screaming "Mama".

He felt bad for thinking about it, but most nurses in the Army were unmarried for a reason. He'd often heard the men complaining about the lack of looks in the hospitals. But, Dick didn't like Rose just for her looks. Sure, she was beautiful, but he wouldn't have been holding her hand at the moment if her looks were all she had…

"Rose?" he suddenly asked, breaking their long silence.

Rose jerked her head up to his handsome face. He'd caught her off guard by using her first name, but she liked it.

"Yes?" she answered softly.

"Why are you here? Why did you join the Army?"

Rose looked up at him and shrugged.

"Oh, you know…adventure, free clothing, a wonderful salary…terrific food…" her voice dripped with sarcasm.

Dick chuckled, but looked deeply in her eyes.

"Really though…of all the things you could have done for the effort?" Dick earnestly wanted to know.

Rose sighed and stared down the darkened, empty, cobblestone street. She could have told him what she simply told everybody else: _"I joined to serve my country" _or "_couldn't let the boys have all the fun." _But, Rose didn't want to deny him the truth. With him, she felt safe to tell him…tell him everything.

"My father was in the Army during the first go 'round. He called me his little miracle because all those chemicals they fought with were supposed to have made him infertile"

Dick watched her eyes glaze over in sadness.

"I never knew it, because he still worked as hard as ever on the farm, but he'd been hurt real bad in France. They'd missed a piece of shrapnel in his leg. One day, my mother found Dad out in the barn unconscious. That shrapnel shifted and cut his femoral artery and he died of internal bleeding. I was only four. He was my hero…and I don't remember what his voice sounded like." They walked in silence for about a block before she continued. "Then my mother remarried this man who owned the feed mill. He didn't like any of us kids. He worked us to exhaustion…had to earn our keep since he took us in." she sneered.

Dick swore he could feel her hand trembling in his. He could see it was painful telling him, but he could also see she had to get it off her chest, so he squeezed her hand and let her keep going.

"He used to make my mother get all dolled up on Friday nights and they'd go out. He had some bootlegger friend and he'd come home higher than a kite. I woke up one Saturday when I was nine and instead of my mother trying to hide her bruises, the sheriff was in the kitchen telling my brothers they'd found our car in a ravine…" she trailed off as her soft voice began to crack.

"After that, we moved in with my grandparents." a glimmer of a smile snuck into her eyes. "Pop taught me to be strong and he raised me like a boy, but Ma made me wear a dress and convinced me to go to teacher's college instead of fighting my way into medical school. Then," she sighed heavily. "my best friend, Molly, joined the Navy as a nurse because her boyfriend had joined. She begged me to go with her. She knew I wanted to be a doctor instead of a teacher."

Dick could see the sorrow seeping back into her face.

"I almost did too. Had the papers ready and everything, but I just started teaching and Pop pulled a lot of strings to get me into our local schoolhouse, so I stayed home." She looked up into Dick's eyes, her turmoil clearly written across her face. "She was at Pearl Harbor. She's buried across the lane from my father in the cemetery. They couldn't even have an open casket."

"Rose, I'm sorry…" Dick whispered.

She just kept going. "I felt so guilty. I was supposed to go with her…she was always getting herself into things way over her head, but I'd always saved her. Maybe if I'd been there…" she trailed off.

Dick suddenly pulled her to a stop and turned to face her, still holding her hand. Rose was looking down at his ribbons, trying to hide those damned tears she'd cried a million times before. Dick gently hooked his finger under her chin and lifted her delicate face to his.

"There's no way you could blame yourself for that. Some Japanese Admirals and politicians are to blame for her death. Hell, blame Hitler!"

The tears rolled down her soft cheeks. "But I would have saved her. I always did. She would have been somewhere safe…"

"You don't know that. You could have been stationed somewhere else… thousands of miles from Pearl Harbor, or worse…" his hand cupped her cheek and he wiped the tears away with his thumb. "You could have both died…but you're here."

"I lose everybody…my father, my mother, Molly…so many young soldiers…I should have saved them all…" she whispered hoarsely.

"Rose…for every soldier you lose, you save a hundred more."

Neither of them had realized how close their bodies had gotten. The only thing keeping their bodies from touching was the fact that Dick was still holding onto her hand, which he'd brought up against his chest. His other hand was holding her face carefully and his callused thumb tenderly wiped away her last tear. Rose wasn't even aware that she barely breathing. She carefully searched his gentle eyes.

For the first time, Dick could smell her perfume. Every one of his senses was being invaded by her. He could feel the heat from her body through his thick, wool uniform and he could hear her short, shallow breaths. She seemed to being leaning more and more into him, and he welcomed it. Suddenly, his eyes fluttered closed as his head dipped down to hers.

Rose felt her heart leap. She could feel his breath on her lips. Their lips brushed ever so slightly and…

Then a boisterous laugh made the two officers jump apart.

Two French policemen came around the corner, talking to one another. They smiled kindly to the Americans, who'd expertly masked their surprised faces with one of composed coolness. Dick nodded and Rose smiled as they passed by. They stayed like that until the Frenchmen disappeared from the same manner as they had appeared.

Rose sheepishly looked down at her shoes. She couldn't believe she'd let herself do that. They could have been caught. She could feel the embarrassment burn up her neck and settle in her cheeks.

Dick could hardly slow his pounding heart. His mouth was painfully dry and could still feel were her lips had just barely touched his. What if they hadn't heard those men coming? He doubted they would have reported them, it was France after all, but just thinking about someone like Sobel walking around that corner made him sick to his stomach. He nervously scratched the corner of his eye and looked over at Rose.

"Um…" Rose said awkwardly after several moments of deafening silence. "We should probably get on that train before it closes for the night."

Dick cleared his throat. "Yah," he said hoarsely. "Yah, you're right."

They continued on their way like before, but with a wall of tension keeping them a good distance apart. Dick unconsciously kneaded his fingers in his palm, where hers used to be. It took a great deal of will power to not look down at her because he was so embarrassed. But suddenly, after several minutes of silence, Dick couldn't help himself. He had to re-break the ice somehow.

"So…why didn't you join the Navy?"

Rose snapped out of her self-induced trance. After getting over the fact he'd actually spoken to her again, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well, the Army is a Beyer family tradition and since both of my brothers were rejected I guess I didn't want to be the generation who broke it." She looked up at the tall Captain and looked at him sheepishly. "Plus, I get seasick."

Dick eyes twinkled and he couldn't help but laugh, but it still didn't change the fact he'd almost kissed the woman. He took a deep breath and refocused his eyes forward. Rose did the same.

They entered the sparsely filled train station and waited for the last train. There was no denying the tension between the two, but they deftly acted as though nothing was wrong. Dick was a little let down when she chose the seat across from him, but he quickly reminded himself it was the proper thing to do.

He settled in to the long train ride back to the hotel, but then he saw him…


	4. Chapter 4 Dick's Dilemma

Thank you so much for the reviews. I'm glad to see people actually like it. I promise no more cliff hangers for a little while. I wrote the first three chapters all together, so those spots just seemed like good places to break things up. I'll try really hard to keep 'em coming!

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The only image in the mind of Captain Richard Winters was a wide eyed kid kneeling in the grass, dressed in a German uniform. Ever since October 5, Dick hadn't slept one night without that haunting image of that young man dying right before him. A shaky breath escaped his chest and he looked over his shoulder to sneak another look at the young Frenchman. His mind had to be playing tricks on him, but it wasn't. The resemblance was uncanny. The nightmare had succeeded and escaped the confines of his dreams. That fear had been the very reason he'd put off writing that damned after action report for Colonel Sink for so long. He had a hard enough time reliving that day in his dreams, let alone reliving it while he was awake. Thinking of that boy made him think of all the men he'd killed. Many of them weren't even German. They were forced into service by the Nazis. They had to follow orders that would likely kill them or else they were killed.

The light on the train flickered, making him jump a little. He looked over at Rose, hoping she hadn't seen him do that, and it seemed she hadn't. She was watching the blurry figures fly by outside the window. He thought of all the pain and suffering she'd seen. Though she tried desperately to hide it, he knew that deep down inside she carried a lot of pain. Dick had only seen a glimmer of what was really underneath back on that corner where they'd almost kissed.

He guessed he'd sort of taken the medical personal for granted. The men got hurt, they went away, they got better, they came back and often returned with horror stories that made him somewhat resentful and reluctant to send away men that probably needed to be sent to the hospital. It was enough to make many of his men, like Wynn and Guarnere go AWOL. But, the way Rose had talked earlier as they sat on that bench made him realize the medical divisions were just like any other aspect of the Army. They had to deal with the same administrative B.S. and rank politics as he did. They had supply troubles and incompetent officers just the same as everyone else and they had to do the best they could with what they had. And so far, it seemed as though they'd done pretty well.

With the problems they were having on their front, he could only guess it was ten times worse on the Axis side. They'd been fighting a war for several years already and they were already running low on supplies. They used horses and carts because they didn't have enough fuel for vehicles. He could hardly imagine what it was like in their hospitals. He himself had put a good share of men in those hospitals; men who had probably led peaceful lives before all this; men who had families they needed to take care of, men, who probably didn't make it out of those hospitals.

Dick couldn't stop himself and he looked over his shoulder at the boy again, who smiled at him. Dick half heartedly smiled back, but quickly turned around. For the millionth time that afternoon, he found his eyes glued to the nurse sitting across from him. She had her elbow propped up on the narrow sill of the window and was resting her chin in her hand. He tried just focusing on her, but his mind kept going back to that young, German soldier. It had taken Dick two seconds to kill that boy and yet he could see every detail of it.

He saw the cloud of blood billow behind him. He saw the life drain out of his wide blue eyes. He saw the kid slump into the grass…over and over again…he saw it. Dick felt his insides burning up. He killed that kid, and he'd killed hundreds like him. He was a murder…just a cold blooded murder.

Suddenly, a gentle hand slipped around his tightly clenched one. Dick hadn't realized he'd been squeezing his eyes shut until they flew open. His heart skipped a beat when he found Rose sitting next to him, holding his hand. Her warm eyes were full of concern. She leaned close to his ear so he could hear her on the nosy train. He caught his breath as some of her hair brushed against his cheek.

"Are you alright Dick? You look life you've seen a ghost."

That was the first time she'd used his first name. Technically, she wasn't allowed to do that, but Dick wasn't about to call her out on it.

He leaned over to her, closer than he should have, to speak in her ear too. His hot breath tickled her cheek.

"I'm fine. Just…just thinking, that's all" He tried to lie. He didn't need to unload his pain onto her. She already had enough of her own.

"Dick, you're not fine." Rose shook her head slightly. Who was he trying to fool? She was a teacher after all. "Please, what's wrong?"

Their faces where so close that she couldn't look into his eyes, she could only hear his ragged breathing.

"That kid, behind us…he, he…"

Rose glanced towards the young French boy sitting in the back. He was very tall and lanky with dark, tussled hair. He was very young, maybe sixteen. He just sat there with his parcel looking around the train with wide, wondrous eyes. He seemed innocent enough, but something about him was causing Dick a great deal of unrest. She squeezed Dick's hand tighter, encouraging him to continue.

"He looks just like a kid I killed…I had to shoot him…he wasn't even holding a gun. But, I shot him…he was just standing right in front of me. I've killed hundreds of men. I'm a murder"

She could hardly hear what he was saying because his voice kept trailing off, but she knew exactly what he was going through. She'd heard many soldiers come into her hospital with the same remorse. For most soldiers, they treating shooting the enemy like it was hunting. Just shoot the thing that's moving and wearing the right clothing. They could pull the trigger alright, but it was afterwards when it would hit them like a ton of bricks. They were taking human life, something they'd grown up knowing was illegal and a sin to do, but there they where…being ordered to kill people. Some hadn't had that realization yet, but sooner or, even much later, it would sink in. No matter how many years, the gut wrenching feeling was still the same. But even though they'd killed, they weren't murders.

"Dick…murderers kill people under their own will power. They kill for themselves. You're not a murder. You do what you are trained to do because you are fighting for your country. You're a soldier. You don't fight for yourself. You fight for the guys beside you." Rose said into his ear.

Dick felt his heart beat a little more with every word she spoke. Their cheeks were practically touching.

"A soldier upholds duty and honor for his country and to his fellow soldiers. Murderers have no honor…they don't feel remorse for their sinful acts, a soldier does…"

Rose pulled back from him and looked into his troubled blue eyes. She had to resist the urge to hug him as she watched a tear form on the brim on one of those eyes.

He stared straight ahead for several minutes, taking in everything she said. When he did look up into her beautiful face, he had to fight every nerve, muscle, and reflex to not kiss that woman. Dick quickly turned away and trained his eyes forward again. He never wanted to kiss someone more in his life. She made him feel like he was still a human being. She reminded him of home. She reminded him that there was some good in this world. She made him feel alive again.

"Monsieur." the French boy suddenly said from the aisle.

The two officers' head snapped up to the boy, both looking at him like he was some sort of ghost.

He said something in French that neither of them really understood, but looking around them, they realized the train had stopped and the lights were shutting off. Dick mentally slapped himself and stood up and ever the gentleman, held out his hand which Rose took. She gratefully relished in the feeling of his warm, strong hand for the few seconds the embrace lasted. The boy followed them out of the desolate station and stood next to Dick as he looked around, trying to get his bearings. Rose had no idea where she was, so she hoped Dick did. She couldn't help but smile as the boy straitened his shoulders to match the Captain's and giddily saluted. That smile quickly fell away and she sighed sorrowfully when she realized Dick still saw that German boy in that kid as he barely nodded and quickly looked away.

Dick straitened his uniform and glanced down at Rose, but turned his head away before she could catch his eye. He just nodded and the two walked sided by side down the nearly empty French streets. Not one word was spoken between them. They just walked wordlessly, turning a few corners here and there.

Dick was thinking about all she said. She was right. He had to do what he did; otherwise the man next to him could end up dead. The way she had said it actually made him feel better. He'd heard several different excuses, but none had made feel better about what he did. Most of soldiers just blamed the Germans and said it was payback for all they'd had done, but Dick knew they were just soldiers like them who were only following orders. Still, during combat, he had to push those feeling down deep inside of him. The Germans were the enemy; nameless; faceless; and out to kill any American they saw. He expected no sympathy from them, so he couldn't give any either.

Rose saw the American Red Cross sign hanging over their hotel in the distance. Butterflies started to flutter in her stomach, and something else seemed to be awakening deeper inside of her, something she hadn't felt in years. Her heart beat so fast that she felt as though she'd just sprinted twelve miles. She'd never felt any like what she was feeling at the moment. Especially, for a man she'd only met a few hours ago. She didn't have those feelings. She was Rose Beyer, the level-headed Lieutenant who did things by the book. The things she wanted to do with him were the very things she told her nurses they couldn't do. They were things that could get her in a whole heap of trouble, but for him…Rose would have gladly faced a firing squad. Though they were several feet apart, Rose could feel the heat radiating off the officer.

Dick stared straight ahead with his lips pursed firmly and his hands jammed deep in his pockets. They walked a leisurely pace, only because Dick didn't want his time with her to end, but also he feared he wouldn't be able to let her go. He couldn't deny his attraction to the nurse, but he had to hide it. He was a captain in the United States' Army. He was Executive Officer of the 2nd Battalion in the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division…but he was also just a man.

Dick didn't need to look down to know she was still next to him. His whole being knew she was there. His fingers burned to feel her skin again, to hold her delicate face in his hands. With every step they took toward the hotel, his heart beat faster with fear, anticipation, excitement, and dread.

They entered the hotel, removing their caps and reality set in once more as they befell upon a lobby full of other service members. Dick felt himself snap back into Captain mode as a group of Lieutenants saluted them. He and Rose dutifully saluted back as they walked by. The entire hotel was filled with Military personnel and Dick suddenly had the horrifying image of Sobel marching around the corner. He put a few more inches between he and Rose as they stepped onto the elevator.

"Floor?" the young operator with a thick French accent asked.

Dick down at Rose and gave her an encouraging nod. Rose found herself speechless when she caught his eyes. It had been the first time he'd looked directly at her since the train. The once soft, caring light blue eyes of the Pennsylvanian were burning with a dark intensity that she'd never seen before.

"Oh, uhh…" Rose choked out after Dick looked back down at his boots. "Four please."

One floor below him, Dick noted. He felt the elevator jolt into motion and with every number that the needle above their heads passed, Dick became more and more tense.

Rose stared into the young operators back, trying to pretend she didn't have less than appropriate feelings for the officer next to her.

Though it seemed like hours, it only took the elevator and few short minutes to stop and open its doors on Rose's floor. But instead of stepping out right away, Rose stood there frozen. She just wasn't ready to end it yet.

"Four." The young man said to the silent and unmoving officers.

"I'll show you to your room Lieutenant." Dick said with his deep voice and motioned to her with his arm.

Rose's heart suddenly leaped, but was quickly drowned out by the nervousness in the pit of her stomach. There was also another ache that she desperately tried to ignore.

She quickly exited the elevator, and with Dick close behind her, walked down the hall towards her room. She dug out the key and her trembling hands slipped it in the lock and the cold sound of metal moving met her ears. She opened the door and stepped into the dark hotel room. Rose flipped on a light and took a shuddering breath before turning to face the captain.

Dick nervously scratched the back of his head. He knew what he wanted to do. He'd never been surer of something in his entire life…but he couldn't. He had to resist. He was a captain for god's sake.

Rose stood in breathless anticipation before him, waiting for his move.

"You," he coughed uneasily "you got your own room?"

A tremor painfully ripped through her womb. Was he hinting at something?

"Oh, uh yeah, um I guess I just lucked out. You?"

"Nah, I got put with some bomber pilot." A small grimace passed over his face and he stuffed his hands into his pockets and he couldn't stop from rambling. "Informed me though he'd be spending his weekend someplace else though if you know what I mean."

A looked passed over Rose's face and Dick inwardly cringed.

Not the most appropriate time to say something like that, you idiot, he scolded himself. It sounded like something Lewis would have said.

"Ah, well." Rose said, noticing his embarrassment, and tried to help him laugh it off. "I'm sure he'll be needing a shot of penicillin in a few weeks."

Dick shook his head and chuckled.

"Yeah…" his voice trailed off and swallowed hard.

Yet again, an awkward, tension filled silence fell over the two officers. Rose's finger nails painfully dug into the palms of her clenched fists, distracting her from doing or saying anything she'd regret. Her eyes focused on his light colored tie that contrasted starkly against his dark uniform. Her heart ached as she imagined her fingers loosening that tie and opening his top button and exposing more of his strong neck.

There was no denying the desire that burned between them. Had another person been standing there with them, they would have felt embarrassed.

Dick's mouth was painfully dry and he was losing his battle with his feelings for the woman standing before him. He wanted so badly to step into that room and wrap his arms around her…

But instead, Dick held out his hand.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Lieutenant." He said earnestly, but with a commanding undertone.

Rose looked apprehensively down at his extended hand, feeling as though the entire world had just crashed down upon her. But, when she looked back up into his face, an understanding passed between them and Rose was able to push her emotions beside. They couldn't, though they wanted to, so badly. They had taken an oath when they joined the Army; an oath to uphold, enforce and obey…to obey the rules, rules that they already almost broke back on the street before getting on the train.

She took his strong hand and he shook hers with a firm, but tender grip. They held the handshake almost desperately, knowing that it was all the further they could take things.

"You too, Captain." She managed to choke out as she gazed at him sincerely.

Dick smiled and gave her hand one last squeezed before reluctantly releasing it.

"Let me know if you find yourself enjoying the city…maybe I can find you hamburger stand for lunch tomorrow." He joked, hoping she'd catch the invitation.

"Will do, sir." She smiled warmly.

Rose snapped to and formally saluted him.

Dick followed suit, hoping she didn't notice his trembling hand.

"Good night Rose." He said tenderly, but with the sadness clearly evident in his low voice.

"Good night." She smiled sweetly, desperately trying to hide her utter disappointment.

They shared one last look before Dick swallowed hard and curtly nodded his head before he stepped away from the one thing he desired more than anything else in the world at that very moment. Rose watched the tall, handsome, redheaded Captain slowly walk back towards the elevator.

He gently pushed the brass button before stuffing his hands in his pockets. He turned back towards her door, hoping to catch another look of her gorgeous face and warm eyes. But instead, he heaved a heavy, sad sigh. She'd shut her door.

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Oh…my…goodness…

That was a hard chapter to finish. It seriously took almost a month to write that. But look! No cliff hangers, but I bet you want to throw me over a cliff with that ending :). Oh those poor, love-unrequited souls…their duty overpowered their hearts. But don't worry, it's only the beginning of Dick and Rose…


	5. Chapter 5 Slim, to None

Thank you so much for the encouraging reviews. They've really helped me in my writing. Sorry this took a bit longer than it should to get this next chapter up here, but real life tends to get in way...

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Rose had to shut the door before she made a complete fool of herself in the hotel full of military personnel. She leaned back against the closed door and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears.

"God…" she whispered.

She wasn't quite sure what she was feeling, but her heart felt like a lead weight. She was sad, hurt, angry, and relieved all at the same time. She was relieved because she didn't have to fight her feelings in front of him anymore, but she was sad because he was gone. She was angry both because she'd once again set herself up for failure and because she'd let him walk away. What the hell was she thinking anyway? What happened to her no-war-time-fling policy? Embarrassment started to settle in, making her stomach twist and turned almost to the point of making her sick. She'd behaved like a shameless, love-sick teenager in front of him. He was a Captain for god's sake!

If they'd been back in the states, their chance meeting could have been the start of something wonderful. It had all happened so perfectly too; almost to the point of being cheesy. But even if she did see him again tomorrow, he would be returning to Mourmelon and her back to her hospital post the next day. The chances of seeing each other again were slim to none and it wasn't like they could write one another either. Though officers' mail weren't as closely censored as enlisted men, regular correspondence between a Captain and a Lieutenant, who was attached to a hospital, wouldn't go on long without someone raising an eyebrow.

She'd done it to herself again. She'd set herself up for failure.

"This damn war!" she growled as she heaved herself away from the door and walked towards the bathroom.

She threw her cap down on the chair next to the door and started undoing the buttons of her jacket.

Well, at least she'd have a good story to tell Annie when she returned. Rose shook her head at the thought of her best friend, Nurse Annie Scofield. They'd met on the day they arrived in England. Annie was a fresh faced graduate, while Rose was the veteran who had been transferred to a company that'd only finished their training a few weeks before shipping out. Annie had grown up on a large ranch in Montana and perhaps it was their country raised work ethic that brought them together. Almost all of the other nurses came for middle-class, suburban families. The two farm kids tried to instill their work-ethic on the city girls, but often found it infuriating.

Annie was very outgoing and lively. She could cheer up the sorriest of soldiers just by walking into the room. She was the unofficial moral officer of the company. She made a point of making sure the soldiers and nurses were in good spirits. Annie had also caught the eye of Captain Kent, and Rose had a feeling something was going on between the two. As a First Lieutenant, and leader of their platoon, Rose should have reprimanded her, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. They made one another happy, and Rose just had a feeling about those two. They seemed meant for one another.

Maybe that's why Rose was beating herself up. She could let her friend break the rules, but yet she couldn't do it herself.

Rose sat down heavily on the end of the bed and started undoing the laces of her dress shoes. When she kicked them off she flopped back against the soft comforter and stared up at the ceiling, resting her hands on her torso. However, as she laid there she started imagining a certain redhead lying above her, slowly undoing the buttons of her shirt. She could feel the weight of him on her body, pressing against her…

Rose's body suddenly shot back up. She covered her face with her hands, trying to push those provocative thoughts about Dick out of her head. Maybe she needed to have a talk with Annie about Captain Kent when she got back.

She let out and exasperated sigh and hiked up her skirt to remove her uncomfortable stockings. She'd always hated the damn things. They itched, they were always getting runs and holes, and they were so hard to replace with the nylon rationing. She used to run around barefoot on the farm all summer until she was fourteen and her aunt introduced her to the latest must have fashion. Rose remembered laughing in her face and telling her those flimsy things would never catch on. Now she just prayed for the day when they'd go out of style, but she just had a feeling by the time that came, she'd be too old to enjoy that freedom.

She balled up the annoying things and threw them into her suitcase before reaching up to undo her tie. As the refreshing air hit the sensitive skin of her neck, she began to wonder what it would feel like if warm, calloused hands replacing her own hands.

Rose slapped her hand against her forehead, bringing those thoughts to a halt. She threw herself onto the queen sized bed and buried her face into the soft, feather pillows and screamed.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" she scolded herself.

She suddenly remembered the bottle of wine she'd brought earlier across the street from the hotel. She'd purchased it to send home to her brother, a budding (and hardly successful) vineyard grower, but she had to have something to calm her nerves and to get that man out of her head. She jumped off the bed and grabbed a glass from the bureau before digging the skinny bottle out of the paper bag.

"God damn-it." She cursed though when she realized she had no way of opening it.

For a moment, she was tempted the smash the neck against the top of the bureau, but she wisely decided against it. Instead, she miserably placed the tumbler and bottle on the table and walked into the bathroom. She stood over the sink and looked at her sorry self in the mirror.

Maybe if she'd been a real raving beauty he wouldn't have been able to resist, she started to think. Rose never considered herself pretty. She knew she wasn't ugly, but she just didn't have those looks that made the men fall to their knees. Annie told her she was the prettiest nurse in the battalion, but Rose thought that about Annie. Annie was perfect with her curly blonde hair, captivating green eyes and spunky personality. She was the one who made the men stop in their tracks. If only Rose was like that…

No, he's too good of an officer and a gentleman, she reminded herself.

Rose reached up and pulled the pins from her shoulder length hair. She left the bathroom and again fell onto the soft bed. She made herself focus on the fact the she was going to spend the night in a real bed. A real bed! Something she hadn't experienced in almost three years. Something, she had to be grateful for, even if it was lacking a certain warm body…

Rose closed her eyes and curled up into a ball. She began imagining a strong arm wrapped around her waist. She didn't reprimand herself that time. She let it comfort her and soon her weary, worn out, war beaten body got the rest it had been long denied.

* * *

Rose hadn't been sleeping very long when a knock on her door made her open her eyes. Spending many nights close to the front had made her a very light sleeper. The knock was faint, and a normal person would have probably slept right through it. She groggily pushed off the covers she pulled over herself in her sleep and slid off the bed.

Who in the world would be knocking at this time of night, she wondered.

Maybe she was being called back to duty. Maybe it was some drunken GI who'd gone to the wrong room. Maybe it was Dick. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought, but she just shook her head. Yah right, she thought. She wasn't that lucky. Before she opened the door, she smoothed out her wrinkled uniform that she should have taken off and made sure her hair wasn't a complete disaster. Her fingers undid the lock and gripped the cold, brass doorknob.

Rose squinted against the sudden intrusion of light, and was rendered completely unable to make out the tall figure standing the hall

"Can I help you?" she asked groggily.

The figure didn't answerer. Rose scowled and rubbed her eyes. She still couldn't see and it made her feel very vulnerable and her temper's fuse was getting shorter and shorter with every passing second of silence.

"Whoever the hell you are…" she started to say, but was suddenly rendered speechless when her eyes finally adjusted.

"Ca..Captain?" she asked, completely dumbfounded. No way, she thought, I'm still asleep!

But she wasn't. Standing before her was none other than Captain Dick Winters.

Dick swallowed painfully as he looked down at the astonished looking nurse. His confidence flaked away with every second they stood there in silence. But, there was no turning back this time, he'd denied himself already and now that she was standing there, looking up at him with those beautiful brown eyes, he didn't think he had the strength to walk away again. The only thoughts running through his head at the moment were something like: "To hell with Sobel! To hell with the Army and the court marshal, to hell with propriety! I need that woman!"

Rose frantically searched his eyes, wondering what he was doing there. But a blind person could have seen that his eyes were blazing with desire. Rose thought her heart was going to pound right out of her chest. That same desire filled Rose's brown eyes and Dick got the answer he'd been praying for. He stepped over the threshold and shut the door.

"I don't normally do this sort of thing." He stated in a deep, desire-thickened whisper.

"Me neither." She answered breathlessly.

They shared one more smoldering look before catapulting their bodies into one another.

Dick's long arms wrapped around her and crushed her body against his needy one. The infantry pins on his collar were painfully digging into her cheek, but Rose couldn't have cared less; she was experiencing the most amazing kiss she'd ever had. It was like one of those movie kisses; the one that you waited the entire movie for, and in the end the wait was absolutely worth it. The Luftwaffe could have bombed Paris right there and then and she would have died the happiest woman on Earth.

They only broke the kiss for the need of air. Dick held her tightly in his arms and stared down at her with lustful eyes, panting like he'd just sprinted up Currahee.

"You came back." She whispered, equally breathless.

The corner of Dick's mouth curled up slightly and a twinkle played in his blue eyes. He brought his mouth down just inches from her already ravished and swollen lips.

"I told you…I don't like retreating." He replied huskily

He crushed his mouth against hers and they shared yet another electrifying kiss. Rose's instincts took over and her hands flew down to the buckle on his jacket. Dick was distantly aware that she was trying to undress him. He was more interested in her being undressed; however, she'd already much further along in that department. Dick hands flew down to the large gold buttons of his jacket and it wasn't long before he shrugged it off his shoulders and it hit the floor with a 'whoosh'.

Rose couldn't slow her beating heart as she undid his tie and opened his collar, for once she was living out her fantasy. Dick trembled when the cool air hit his enflamed skin and her soft finger tips skimmed his chest. As much as he wanted to relish in the moment, Dick was losing a battle that he was in fact perfectly fine with losing. He pulled her against him and kissed her. When she pulled back and looked up into his eyes, she saw a fiery desire burning deep within those orbs. Pure need ripped through her insides and made her clench his strong forearms to keep from falling over.

Her fingers flew down the rest of his buttons and his class A blouse joined his coat on the floor, which was soon followed by his white t-shirt. Dick pushed her towards the bed and his own fumbling fingers undid the last few buttons of her blouse. By the time he laid her down on the soft comforter, all that was left of her clothing was her silk, Army issue chemise. It wasn't long before that was done away with, along with the rest of Dick's apparel.

As Dick stared down at the most beautiful site he'd ever seen, nerves started to get the best of him. He suddenly felt like he was a nervous teenager in the back seat of a car.

"Rose." He suddenly said, his voice cracking like an adolescent.

Rose, who was breathing so hard she could hardly talk, swallowed hard and answered.

"What is it Dick?" she whispered.

"I uh," he stammered, suddenly feeling embarrassed for breaking the mood to say what he was about to say. "I don't…" he swallowed hard. "Don't have a, uh…"

Rose looked up at him perplexed, and slightly annoyed. It took her a moment to get what he was trying to say. Then she suddenly got it. A slight pain shot through her heart, but she quickly quelled it. She reached up and put a hand on his cheek and pulled him closer to her.

"It's okay." She reassured. "I…I can't have children anyway. You're okay."

Dick looked at her for a moment, digesting what she'd just told him. Relief washed over him, but at the same time it made him feel bad. She would have been a wonderful mother, he could just tell.

"I'm sorry." He said softly, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

Rose was touched, but she didn't want to think about her problems at the moment.

"Dick, just kiss me." She whispered huskily. She pulled his face down to her awaiting lips.

Though he was actually the senior officer, Dick did what he was told.

Two officers; well respected members of the US Army; both very brave and honorable; both the epitome of how officers should be…broke the rules that night. They could both be court marshaled and imprisoned if they were caught. One almost got a Medal of Honor and the other one was told she could make it all the way up the ladder someday. They shouldn't have, but they couldn't not. That night, both of them forgot about the Army, their training, their superiors, their pins, medals, and ribbons. That night they weren't in the midst of the greatest war the world had ever seen. That night, they were two lovers who met in Paris.

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And...there you have it. Didn't feel the need to go into great detail, you can all do that on your own...

Might be a little while before I get the next one up here. Still working on tying up the loose ends. As always, please review and thank you so much for reading my little story! :)


	6. Chapter 6 A Vivid Dream

I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but again thank you so much to the reviews. I noticed my little spelling error right after I posted that last chapter and I almost went back and fixed it, but then I was like 'eh', nobody will notice or care…guess I'll know better next time, lol. Alright…enough of my ramblings…here it is, enjoy!

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Rose snuggled deeper into the soft covers, relishing in the warmth and coziness of the soft sheets. She could hardly recall the last time she'd been so comfortable. Normally, she never had a problem getting out of bed. Her grandmother had been pretty adamant about that when she was growing up. Like most farm kids, Rose had a whole heap of chores to get done before breakfast and school. Sleeping in wasn't part of her vocabulary, but she knew it was going to take a lot of will power to get out of the soft, snug cocoon her body was in.

However, the more she enjoyed it, the more she noticed the absence of the daily discomforts she normally woke up in the morning to. There was no rumble of supply trucks, no acid smell of antiseptic, no dampness in the air, no annoying support bar in the middle of her cot digging into her back…

Rose's brown eyes suddenly shot open. In place of the dirty, green canvass wall that she saw every morning was elegant, white molding and wall paper. As she looked around the dimly lit hotel room, goose bumps started forming on her exposed skin, making her clench the sheets tighter around her naked body. The memory of a certain paratrooper made her heart skip a beat and her stomach flutter madly.

Had that all really happened? Maybe it had all been dream…a very vivid dream…

Rose slowly pushed herself up. The twinges and soreness in certain areas of her body confirmed that it had not been just a dream. She combed some loose hair out of her face and looked down at the empty side of the bed and all that was left of Captain Richard Winters was an indentation on a pillow.

Rose shook her head, trying to push the disappointed feeling out of her heavy heart. It was better he left, she told herself. Neither of them had ever done anything of the sort, and it would have been horribly awkward. He'd probably woken up and realized the mistake they'd made. He probably used all his combat training to silently sneak around the room and retrieve all his things so he wouldn't wake her. He probably snuck back to his room before anyone saw him leaving a room that wasn't his. He'd done everything right, for the right reason, but still, she wished he could have said good-bye.

Rose rubbed her eyes and sighed deeply. Now what was she supposed to do? She could hear the patter of rain hitting the window, making her frown. Her first thought was to stay in bed all day and sleep away his memory. She reached for the clock on the night stand, but her hand abruptly stopped mid-reach when a wrist watch caught her eye. Rose's stomach flip-flopped as her fingers curled around the nylon strap. It was a standard issue, just like hers. Rose smiled as she traced the face with her finger tip, noting that it was very early in the morning.

She leaned over the bed to set it back on the nightstand when something else suddenly caught her attention…

A uniform jacket with brightly polished gold buttons and pins was lying on the floor next to the bed, and the screaming eagle patch stood out starkly against the dark wool fabric. Rose looked down at it in absolute shock. Forgetting a small watch was expected, but no way in hell would anyone forget a major part of a uniform like that! As she looked around at the scattered clothing, she realized, quite sheepishly, that most of the pieces weren't hers.

"My god…" she whispered as her hand flew to her mouth.

He was still there.

She searched the room wildly, but he was nowhere to be seen. Without thinking, she slipped off the bed and stood up, only to remember she was stark naked and her robe was hanging behind the bathroom door, the only other place he could have been. She tore the tangled sheet off the bed and wrapped it around her body. Her ears strained to hear any sound from the other room as her eyes glued themselves to the open bathroom door where her coat hung on the knob. However, not a sound came to her ears after several minutes.

Rose's bare feet silently crept across the cool wooden floor towards the bathroom, not knowing what she'd find. She peered into the marble adorned room and the sight she found made her freeze. However, she soon found herself smiling at the sight of that red head of hair sticking out of the streaming bathtub. Happiness, relief, excitement, all the good feelings a person could have spread throughout her body as she leaned against the door frame and gazed at him. He looked so peaceful and content. All the worries and fears she felt from him the night before seemed to have lifted off his chest.

She wrapped the thin sheet tighter against her body as the sight of his bare skin made memories of their night together flood back into her head. She could still feel his gentle hands touching her skin and the weight of his body against hers. The more Rose watched his chest rise and fall under the water's surface, the more her finger tips tingled to feel his skin again. That familiar shortness of breath and ache deep within her core made her blush and look away from the submerged man. She suddenly felt embarrassed standing there spying on him.

She turned to go back to the bedroom, but the sound of water sloshing startled her. She spun around, only to be locked into Dick's burning gaze.

Dick hadn't heard her come to the door. He was focusing on all the soreness being pulled out of his muscles by the first bath he'd had in a very long time. He only opened his eyes when the sound of swishing fabric met his highly attuned ears. Dick's already inflamed skin heated up even more when he caught sight of Rose standing in the doorway. She looked like a Greek goddess with her hair down around her shoulders and the sheet draped across her body, accentuating every one of her curves. He could barely breathe and his heart pounded so loud in his ears he could hardly think.

"I figured you'd left." She said softly.

The corner of Dick's mouth twitched ever so slightly and he shook his head. Rose's heart soared, but she was still hesitant.

"Why?"

Dick's mouth contorted as he searched for a response. He'd thought about leaving when he'd woken and realized what he'd done. The practical side of him told him he should sneak back to his room while the chances of someone seeing him where still slim in the wee hours of the morning. But, when he looked down at her beautiful, sleeping face, all practical thoughts flew out the window. The MP's could have had him at gun point and he wouldn't have budged. He just couldn't bring himself to leave her. Deep down he knew they needed one another. She made his pain go away. That boy had haunted his dreams and thoughts constantly, but after what she told him, he felt that a huge burden had been lifted off his chest. She made him feel alive, in more ways than one, again.

An innocent smile donned his striking face and Rose could see that sparkle she become so familiar with in the last 12 hours in his blue-green eyes.

"You're tub is bigger." He declared.

Rose closed her eyes and laughed at matter-of-fact answer he gave.

"Really," she teased. "Well, I'm glad you helped yourself."

Once again, silence fell over the two and as they looked at one another, the light-heartedness of the situation started to wane. Rose's eyes fell to her feet, unable to find the words she wanted to say, so she stepped back towards the bedroom to leave.

"Big enough for two..."

Rose froze, contemplating what he'd just said. She slowly turned around and again was met by a smoldering gaze and a slight smirk. So many things went unsaid between the two, but so many things were understood. Rose slowly walked to the bathtub, her heart beating faster with every step and her eyes never leaving his. She stopped next to the tub, her knees ready to buckle any moment.

Dick thought his heart was going to explode as her fingers loosed their grip on the sheet. It cascaded down her body and pooled around her feet. Dick summed up every bit of will power not to move until she climbed over the side and her body touched his.

Rose slowly eased herself into the hot water. Dick calloused hands gently grasped her hips.

"Turn around." He told her softly.

She maneuvered her body and leaned back against his muscular, bare chest. Dick wrapped his arms around her slender frame and the two sat there silently, letting the hot water melt away all their stress, soreness, and pain. Rose leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She'd never been more comfortable in her entire life. A smile graced her lips as Dick planted a kiss on the top of her head and rested his cheek against it.

"I hated taking baths when I was little." She suddenly said after almost five minutes of silence.

Dick smiled and wrapped his arm tighter around her chest. He watched as the water precariously toyed with the edge of the tub. He should have let some of the water out before she'd gotten in.

"Always figured they were just a waste of time. I was going to go out and get dirty anyway…yah know, why bother. Everyone else I saw lived on a farm. We could have just saved a lot of time and came out in the open with the fact we were dirty and smelly most of the time." She snickered. "Went almost a full month without a bath, until my grandma and my aunt finally cornered me…"

Dick laughed. He could just imagine her younger self being chased down by the two with a bar of soap and a scrub brush.

"I proceeded to make the mother of all mud forts with my brothers later that day." Rose smiled as she thought of the better days of her childhood. "It's amazing how you take those little thing for granted…now a days, you'd give your right hand for two minutes in lukewarm water with a cheap bar of soap."

"Yah." Dick knew the feeling.

He lifted his left arm out of the water and began stroking her chocolate brown hair, which was getting very curly in the humidity. He'd been doing pretty well considering a gorgeous, nude woman was lying against him, but his resolve was slowly breaking. His lips found her neck and they left a trail of wet kisses to her bare shoulder. Rose shifted slightly so she could offer more of her delicate skin to him. He slid his right hand across her chest, only catching the tops of her breasts, but still enough to make the nurse quiver.

Underwater, his hands slinked down to her thighs and his large hand gently squeezed them. Rose gasped when his hands slid dangerously close to her center. She could feel him pressing against her. She didn't want him to have all the fun. She grabbed the sides of the tub and pulled herself up and turned her body so she could face him.

Dick caught his breath and swallowed hard as he stared into her desire darkened eyes.

She straddled his body and her slender hands slid up his chest to his stubbly cheeks. She liked the gritty feel against her callused fingertips as she traced the line around his mouth. She trembled when his wet hands slid up her back, applying the lightest amount of pressure that made her lean close enough so he could capture her soft lips. At first, the kiss was soft and gentle, but it didn't take long for it to escalate. Water splashed onto the tile floor as the two maneuvered their bodies closer.

The bathtub was supposed to be every man's' fantasy, but Dick found it to be quite uncomfortable and cumbersome. It really wasn't big enough for two. There was no way he could do all the things he wanted to do to her in that tub, so he pushed her away and stood up. Rose's perplexed face received an encouraging kiss after he pulled her naked body up out of the water and against his. He carefully lifted her slick body out the bathtub and set it gently on the floor.

Rose stood there shivering, but she wasn't cold. Dick grabbed a few of the soft, thick towels and wrapped her in them before picking her light frame. Rose instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him deeply. Dick had to grab the doorframe to steady himself as his legs momentarily gave out on him. Rose giggled against his mouth and then let out a yelp when he suddenly launched them both onto the bed, which groaned and creaked in protest.

"I think you broke it." Rose teased.

"Me?" Dick smiled and continued his assault on her neck and jaw with his mouth. "The room is in your name."

"Oh, I see…_Oh!" _she suddenly rendered speechless when his hand slipped up her side and found its way to her breast.

Words were hardly spoken the next few hours. Like the night before, they took solace in each other. Except this time, the rushed, awkward, mindless sex was replaced by slow, tender, deliberate lovemaking. Rose had never felt anything like what she felt with Dick. He hadn't been her first. No, she'd very regretfully given that honor to a less than honorable person when she was seventeen.

He was the best looking boy in school with a Ford pick-up truck and charisma beyond belief. Rose was the complete opposite, but she was also one of the prettiest girls in school and with her overly protective brothers, she'd been pretty sheltered, or at least her family thought so. Call it the bad-boy syndrome, but Rose thought she was in love. After one night in the back of his truck, he treated her like something he'd conquered and Rose never spoke to him again. Then there was the boy she met while in college. He came to the café' she worked at and he was studying to be a doctor. He was a nice young man, but they hardly had anything in common. He came from a wealthy, tight nit family from the city. She'd been his first and after that night, he proposed to her, but Rose knew she didn't love him. They drifted apart and after he left for medical school, he stopped writing and they never saw each other again.

Both men had been demanding and very pushy with her. She'd cried after both times, but with Dick, Rose didn't regret one single second. In fact, she only wanted to be with him more.

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Well, there you have it. There was more, but I decided to split it up so I could get the finished parts posted. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7 No Strings

Thank you for being so patient with me. Getting this next chapter up here took way longer than it should have. Unfortunately, I've been suffering from a nasty ailment call 'academia'…symptoms include sitting through insanely boring classes, writing research papers that seem to suck any form of creativeness out of its victims, and mocking annoying professors (okay…that part is fun). Sadly…there won't be a cure until after the painful procedure known as final exams…so it might be a bit before the next one gets up here…sorry in advance…gotta sleep sometime. ENJOY!!!!

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"We should really get out of bed." Rose said as she strapped the watch she'd discovered earlier to the owner's limp arm draped over her waist.

Dick didn't open his eyes, but a small smile crossed his relaxed face. Getting out of that soft, warm bed he was in was the farthest thought from his mind, and the notion of letting go of the body nestled perfectly against his wasn't even an option. He just squeezed his long leg tighter around hers and burrowed his face deeper into her hair.

"Mmmm." The captain mumbled unenthusiastically, pretending to agree with her.

The rain that Rose had woken up to earlier had long ago cleared. The sunlight filtering through the curtains cast a glow over the two of them as they laid there entangled in each other's limps. The quiet, desolate streets of the night before no longer existed. Sounds of the bustling city penetrated the stone walls of the hotel, telling the two lazy soldiers that there was a whole big world out there that and they were missing it.

"It's almost 1000 hours, yah know."

Dick only tightened his arm around her slim waist, hoping to quell any more notions the nurse had about getting out of bed. A smile played on Rose's lips. She wasn't quite sure why she was making such a big fuss. She didn't really want to get up either and it wasn't like they needed to be anywhere. Rose scooted herself closer against his warm body. Dick welcomed the movement and pulled her tighter against his chest. Rose closed her eyes and sighed and conceded to the fact that the man holding her wasn't in any kind of rush.

"I haven't slept in this late in six years." She mused.

Dick peaked open an eye and mischievously smiled.

"I don't think you can call it sleeping in…more like making up of a lack of sleep." He slyly pointed out.

His deep, sleep-thickened voice rumbled in his chest and resonated against Rose's body, making her insides tingle.

Rose opened her eyes and a bashful grimace crossed over her face.

"Oh…I guess that's true." a blush stained her cheeks as she thought about their previous nocturnal and early morning activities.

Dick chuckled and suddenly maneuvered himself so that she was trapped beneath him. As he looked down Rose, a silly smile spread over his face. That infectious grin spread to Rose and her brown eyes gleamed as she smiled up at the man who seemed to make all her worries and pain go away with one little smirk. For once, Rose didn't feel like she had the whole weight of the world pressing down on her chest. In its place was a handsome redhead who was smiling down at her with those twinkling blue-green eyes of his. Dick made her feel things she never thought she could.

A small part of her mind started envisioning what it would be like to be with him all the time. She imagined taking him home and introducing him to her family. Her grandfather, with his uncanny ability to judge a person's character spot on with one glance, would have liked him immediately and would take him for a walk to show him around the farm. Ma, who was normally a stern, stoic woman, would have fallen all over him just because he was interested in her granddaughter and chatter away while dishing him up a piece of her famous apple cobbler. Her second eldest brother, Henry, would have tried acting like a macho, protective older brother and in doing so, would make a complete fool out of himself. Carlyle, her oldest brother, would have taken a more subtle approach with his 'brotherly duties', but he would eventually accept Dick and she could see them becoming good friends.

However, Rose's happy, little scenario was cut short by a familiar jingling noise. Her fingers reached up and entwined themselves in the chain of Dick's dog tags which dangled in front of her face. Rose mentally scolded herself for her silly, wishful daydreaming. This time tomorrow, they'd both return to their posts and Rose had experienced enough in life to know that happily-ever-after didn't happen to her.

Dick watched her study them. The smile fell from his face as a tiny speck of guilt flickered in his stomach. He'd almost forgotten about the precarious situation they were in, but cold, metal reminders hung around both their necks. He wished he'd taken his tags off, but then again that was at least one rule they hadn't broken.

"Hmm…O neg." she observed his blood type on the metal tag. "Better keep that under wraps or else they'll suck you dry."

She let go of his tags, but her fingers fell down to her own tags. She'd gotten so used to wearing them that she hardly ever noticed them. Like any other military member, they'd become a part of her.

"Yah, Doc Roe…well, Easy's medic. He knows." Dick smiled fondly, thinking of the Cajun medic from his former command. "He's chased me down and stuck me more than a few times." Dick held out his arm and with her highly trained eyes, Rose could easy decipher the tell-tale needle marks from the freckles that dotted his fair skin.

"Well, that's your own fault." She said as her finger traced a prominent vein that that ran down his muscular arm. Rose had taken thousands of blood samples and inserted hundreds of IV's and so she could spot a good vein a mile away. "Guess you just have'ta run faster." She said with a smile and an eye brow quirked.

Dick rolled his eyes and smiled down at her with that trademark crooked smile.

"Or just learn how hide better from him. Roe's got a bad habit of sneaking up on a fella when he's looking for a donation."

An amused grimace passed over Rose's face. She was guilty as well and was quite proficient in the art of duping people into donating.

"He any good?" she asked Dick.

Rose had dealt with a fair share of incompetent medics. Many of them did more harm than good. Either they didn't know what they were doing, or they were too arrogant to listen to a female's advice when she tried explaining things to them. A fair share of Allied medics had received much deserved, and sometimes harsh, criticism from the 5'6" former school teacher. Annie and Captain Kent had coined the name "The Rose Thorn Show" for those little ego-trampling sessions. Though they found her well-justified tirades to be quite entertaining, Rose didn't rip on the men because she got a kick out of it, but because it had to be done and thus far, she seemed to be pretty effective. No medic who'd been ripped to shreds by a pretty nurse whilst all his fellow comrades watched and snickered ever dared cut any corners or shirk from his duties again.

Dick rolled onto his side and propped his head up with his elbow and looked at her.

"Yah, he's really good; by far the best in the battalion. Probably seen the most wounded too."

"Mmmm, I'm glad to hear that. There are a lot of really good medics out there, but it's those few idiots who ruin it for the rest of us." Rose shook her head as one particular incident came to mind. "I had one who fainted while we were working on a man. The idiot managed to crack his head open on the way down and after I took care of the gusher that squirted _me_ in the face, I had to give him a few stitches."

Rose rolled her eyes and stretched like a cat under the blanket and left her hands resting her head.

Dick chuckled and brushed back a strand of chocolate brown hair on her forehead. She'd been in the Army almost as long as he had, but she'd been on the front much longer than he. While he and the rest of Easy were running up Currahee, she was treating soldiers in Africa. Despite that fact, Dick still had a rough time imagining her in that chaos. He didn't doubt her ability though. He recognized in her all the traits of a good soldier and leader. The two officers had more in common than either realized.

"Yah, all the men of Easy Company are the best." He smiled fondly, but his eyes seemed to glaze over as he lamented over the men in his former command.

He wondered how they were doing back at base. They were probably finishing up with morning drills and getting ready for training. When he moved up to Battalion, the first few weeks had been rough on the Captain. He was so used to seeing the men every day that he almost felt lonely. He missed hearing them talk and joke. He missed witnessing their cohesion. The men had a bond like no other he'd ever seen, and he knew the reason; Sobel. As much as his personally disliked the man, he had to give him create; he made one hell of a company.

Rose chuckled at his remark and playfully poked him in the chest.

"Coming from a totally unbiased source..." She sarcastically commented.

The corner of his mouth curled up and he smiled for a moment. "Guess you got me there." He answered in a low voice and shrugged. His clear, blue eyes clouded over again in thought and he absent mindedly stroked her arm with his index finger.

"You really do miss them, don't you?" she asked after watching him think for several moments.

Dick smiled a tiny, sheepish smile at the fact he'd been caught, as Nixon put it, pouting again over the loss of his company.

"Yah…" he looked at her sadly through his blonde eyelashes, unable to fully meet her gaze. "yah, I guess I really do."

A caring smile formed on Rose's lips and she reached up and placed a gentle hand on the sorrowful leader's face.

She knew what it was like to suddenly be ripped away from the people you knew and trusted. While in Africa, Rose had been with an excellent hospital. They were all very professional and knew their stuff and Rose learned so much. But, that was back when the standards seemed to be higher. When Rose got promoted to first lieutenant, she was transferred because they needed experienced nurses to lead the fresh-faced graduates in the ETO. It felt like she went from teaching a college class to a group of first graders. It wasn't that her present company was bad, just inexperienced. Plus, as the Army was being spread thinner and thinner across all the places of the world, getting decent supplies was half the battle being waged. It was hard to train personnel when she hardly had enough supplies for the real thing. Rose had to do her best and most times was training them on the fly.

"I bet they feel the same about you, Dick." She said softly.

Dick turned his face and gently kissed her palm as he reach up and covered her hand with his own as he listened to her.

"You're still leading them though, you just don't realize it. I know you'd rather be in the trenches with them, but they you need up there. After all, the way you talked it sounds like Easy's been the only thing keeping the whole lot together. Now that you're up the ladder, you can make the whole Battalion as good as Easy."

Dick smiled and caressed her hand with his thumb. What she said made perfect sense, but he still would have traded everything to be back up front yelling "Follow me!" instead of standing behind them shouting "Forward!".

"You use that same look on your students?" he asked after gazing into her soft, caring eyes that seemed to magically melt away his worries.

"Why, is it working?" Rose laughed; she hadn't even realized she was doing it.

"Yah, kinda..." His smile grew as she intensified the gaze to the point of mockery.

Rose laughed and leaned over to place a quick peck on his lips before she sat up, holding the light blanket against her bare chest as she swung her feet over the side of the bed.

"You should have fallen down and scraped your knee. You would have gotten a hug and a piece of candy." She quipped, peering over her shoulder.

Dick turned over and propped his body up on his elbows and chuckled. He watched her situate the blanket around her body as she prepared to get off the bed. A tiny sigh escaped his chest. He guessed she'd finally won. He'd soon have to follow suit and climb out of the soft bed which was nowhere near as inviting anymore without a certain warm body in it.

The light was shining through the tall, glass windows and cast a glow over her body just perfectly and she glowed like some heavenly apparition. He had the urge to pinch himself to make sure he really was awake. Never in a million years would Dick have imagined himself doing something like this. It just wasn't in his nature. With the exception of his 'wild' streak in his teenage years, Dick had always been a shy, quiet boy. His mother's parents were Mennonites, and even though she never officially joined the religion because of meeting Dick's father, she still raised her children with the same beliefs and values. His actions with Rose unquestionably broke the 'Quaker' imagine he'd made for himself with some of the men. He could just imagine the look of shock on Nixon's face if he heard about this, but he could only imagine. Dick had already made up his mind he wasn't going to broadcast the events that had taken place between him and the Lieutenant to even his closest friend. Besides, Nixon would have never believed him anyway.

Dick finally made up his mind to follow Rose's lead and he started to sit up, but he suddenly noticed something. The light Rose was being bathed in highlighted something else about her body, something he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before. Unable to stop himself, Dick's fingers reached up and delicately traced one of the many long scars that crisscrossed the porcelain skin of her back.

Rose jumped slightly when she felt his fingers tickle her bare skin. She was about to let loose some sly remark, but she froze when she realized what he'd seen. Rose squeezed her eyes shut as his calloused fingertips brushed over those ugly reminders of the more sorrowful times of her childhood. Dick's jaw hung slightly open and his eyes grew dark with concern and anger for whoever had done this to her. The scars were old and hardly visible, but he still could count every single one and there were far too many.

"Rose, who di..." he started to ask in a low, anger filled voice.

"My stepfather." She answered, cutting him off as she solemnly peered over her shoulder. Her heart swelled for a second when she looked into his rage and worry filled eyes. "I did deserve a few of them. I was a pretty disrespectful stepdaughter."

Dick shook his head in anger and disbelief. He'd had his fair share of well deserved lickings by his father's belt growing up, but nothing even close to this.

"So young…" he whispered, remembering she'd only been nine when her mother and stepfather died. Had the man still been alive, Dick would have tracked the bastard down and given him the same beating. He may had only met her less than 24 hours ago, but Dick had already developed a strong urge to protect the woman, even though he knew she probably didn't need it. "Didn't your mother do anything to stop him?"

Rose turned away from him and stared straight ahead so he couldn't see her trembling chin as thousands of memories of those dark times of her childhood filled her head.

"She…" she barely managed to squeak out with her cracking voice. She cleared her throat and continued melancholically. "She had to take the punishment if I didn't, and he already gave her enough of her own bruises and scars…"

Dick's eyes feel away from her scars and he shook his head. How could someone so young, bright, and kind have lived through so much heartbreak? He hadn't forgotten what she had told him last night. He couldn't help but feel as though he was taking advantage of her condition. The urge to ask her why she couldn't have children had been with him all morning, but he felt asking her would have been just another slap to the face. Instead, Dick reached from behind her and gently placed his hand over hers that was sitting limply on her lap. The motion broke Rose's stare into nothingness and she looked down on his freckled hand that gently squeezed hers. She entwined her fingers in his and smiled slightly.

"Poor woman…" she shook her head and sighed forlornly. "She knew she made a mistake when she married him; she was just too proud to admit it."

They sat there in silence for a few moments until Rose finally shook her head as if she shaking off the sullen mood that had suddenly settled over the two officers. She'd put all that behind her years ago, and with the exception of last night on the street corner, Rose tried not to let her gloomy past get to her.

"It is a glorious day outside and here we are loafing around like a bunch of lazy bums." She declared as she turned and looked at Dick with an eyebrow quirked and a sly smile on her lips.

She got up from the bed and Dick reluctantly let go of her hand, letting his arm fall limply to the soft mattress. Rose threw a smile over her shoulder as she walked towards the bathroom. It had taken a great deal of will-power to get up, but she knew they both had to have some shred of truth to tell their comrades when they went back to their posts.

Dick returned the smile, but sighed in defeat as she disappeared behind the door and shut it.

He knew she had a point. They both had an entire day to do what they please in the beautiful city of Paris, but he still didn't want to get up. His contented, blue eyes surveyed the floor and took stock of the scattered uniform pieces. The sight of the crumpled, brown clothing strewn carelessly across the floor made the military man cringe. There was going to be a great deal of starching and pressing in both their futures. He sighed once more and heaved his long legs over the side of the bed and he started the task of separating his garments from hers.

The question of how the Captain was going to sneak back to his room without being seen lingered in his mind. He thought of the possible scenarios as he collected and donned his clothing. Dick couldn't help but crack a smile at his militarily minded plans. He didn't think there was a field manual for sneaking out of a woman's hotel room in the Army's vast collection of 'how to' books. Nixon probably could have helped him. Dick shook his head as he thought of his friend. It would have been right up his alley, he thought. Infidelity was another one of his best friend's less than favorable traits that Dick didn't exactly fully condone.

Then again, Dick wouldn't have condoned what he, himself, was doing either. Dick couldn't deny the fact he'd broken a few rules and regulations in his career. He had an unauthorized knife he kept tucked in his jump boot, and he had the men disobey orders that were just plain idiotic. Of course, there was Malarkey's motorcycle that just happened to drive itself across the English Channel…

An officer couldn't be a good officer if he followed every, single, idiotic rule the Army seemed to have. A good one knew how to bend the rules and come out ahead.

However, he hadn't bent the rules with Rose. They broke them into a million pieces.

The same train of thought seemed to be running through Rose's mind as well. She stood at the sink, trying to tame her hair back down into a more presentable fashion. When Dick appeared at her door and made his intentions quite clear the night before, a small voice the back of Rose's head said 'you'll regret this later'. It was the same voice that had warned Rose the other two times she'd been with a man. Well, if one could even call them men, but she did indeed very much regret her actions with them.

Rose was so heartbroken by her first that she almost told Carlyle and Henry so they could 'teach' him lesson. On the other hand, she knew that by doing that, she would have been exposed and her reputation would have been ruined. As far as her family knew, Rose was a nun. She'd never lied to them about her status; they just assumed and never asked. Though Rose had a feeling her grandmother knew. She was just that type of woman who you couldn't hide things from. A trait Rose herself also seemed to have.

However, Rose still hadn't felt any form of guilt toward the situation she and Dick had created from themselves. She wasn't proud of herself for going against military regulations, but she still hadn't gotten that sickening feeling that one normally gets when they realize their misdeeds. In fact, she was quite happy; so happy she was giddy with excitement. The more she thought about the man just outside that bathroom door, the more her heart seemed to swell and the wider her smile got.

In the back of her mind, that same voice reminded her that she would never see that man again after tomorrow. Rose's smile fell from her face. Spoil-sport, her giddy side said to that rational side of her head. Rose sighed and placed her hands on either side of the porcelain sink and leaned heavily against it. They'd have to say good-bye sooner or later.

"Enjoy it while it last girl." Rose mumbled to her reflection in the mirror.

She pushed herself off of the vanity and tightened the strap of her silk robe and her waist.

Dick looked over toward the bathroom door when the sound of creaking hinges met his ears. Rose let out a relieved sigh she didn't even know she was holding in when she saw Dick standing there buttoning up his shirt. She half expected to walk out and find an empty room. They shared a smile, but both ducked their eyes away as if knowing any lingering stares would put them right back to where they were before. Still, neither of them could help but sneak glances towards one another.

Rose smiled when she noticed Dick struggling with his tie. She stopped smoothing the wrinkles out of her blouse she'd picked up off the floor and watched the annoyance grow in his fair face as he started the knot over for the third time.

Dick jumped slightly when he felt a body approach him from behind and arms slinking around his shoulders. He'd been so engrossed in the damn thing, he hadn't noticed her approach. For some reason beyond Dick's knowledge, he'd always had a difficult time with ties. It was quite embarrassing for the officer. He could jump out of a flying airplane without flinching, hit a target a hundred yards away off his hip, and throw a grenade at precisely the right moment…but he couldn't tie a god-damned tie.

Rose gently grasped his furious fingers and pulled them away from the maddening strip of fabric.

"Before you cause anymore damage to my room, sir…" she quipped as her own fingers went to work.

Dick rolled his eyes bashfully and his shoulders slumped like a little boy who'd just been caught in the cookie jar. Normally, he just loosened his tie to take it off, so he didn't have to redo it. But Rose had mangled it beyond repair when she removed it for him the night before. Suffice to say, he had been too preoccupied to stop her.

Rose teetered on very tips of her toes and she was basically draped over Dick's back as her expertly twisted and pulled the light colored fabric. Dick watched her through the mirror with his mouth pursed in concentration as he tried to memorize her movements. Rose noticed his watchful eyes and smiled.

"I take it it's not my stunning beauty that just happens to be tripping you up." She said sarcastically.

Dick cracked a smile and bent his knees slightly so she could reach better.

"Well, I could." he joked at first, but his mouth twisted into a sheepish grimace. "Usually it only takes me two or three times to somehow get it right."

Rose chuckled and finished the knot.

"There." She smiled triumphantly at her handy work and rocked back down on her heels.

Dick studied the knot and shot her a coy glance.

"Thanks." He said quietly as he tucked the end of the tie in its proper place between the buttons.

"Eh," She patted him warmly on his muscular shoulder. "Don't feel too bad. My brother's almost 30 and the man still hasn't figured it out."

Before Rose could do anything else, Dick turned around and wrapped his arms around her waist. His body pressed against hers and Rose gulped back gasp. His roaming hands seemed to burn right through her robe and seer her skin. Rose's own arms soon slinked up around his neck, bringing their bodies even closer. They stared into each other's eyes; brown and blue melting into one as that burning gaze she'd come to desire pulled her lips towards his.

Dick's own heart beat jumped up a few notches and he brought up his hands and gently, but firmly, grasped the back of her head and guided it towards his. Their lips met and Rose's arms tightened around Dick's neck as her knees gave away on her. Rose felt herself falling back into that blissful haze of passion he'd put her in far too many times in the last 24 hours. His hand tightened against the small of her back and Dick's mouth moved from hers and his lips grazed and path down her cheek to her ear.

"Oh Dick." She grasped when he found a sensitive spot on her neck that she wasn't even aware of.

Dick smiled wolfishly against her soft skin. He'd become quite fond of hearing that phrase from her. He leaned his head back and relished at the sight of her. Those big, brown, desire filled eyes stared up at him. Dick felt as though his heart could pop right through his chest it was swelling so much. He felt his instincts start to push away any rational thoughts floating in his head. He needed her.

Dick leaned back down to capture her lips again, but Rose's head suddenly ducked down and nestled itself against his heaving chest. A pang of confusing mixed with disappointment shot through Dick's body, but instead of pursuing anything else he just tightened his arms around her slim body.

Rose squeezed her eyes shut and just focused on the warmth coming from the Captain's strong, lean body. That pessimistic voice in the back of her head was nagging her yet again. As much as she wished to continue, it was eating away at her.

"Dick?" her muffled voice said against his still, heaving chest. "I think we need to talk about this…what we doing together."

Dick squeezed his eyes shut and a sullen grimace crossed his face. He took a few deep breathes to calm himself before he could even consider answering her. He knew exactly what she was talking about. He'd just been ignoring it.

"Yah…" he swallowed painfully. "Yah, I guess we should."

Rose took one more deep breath before she pulled back and looked up into his face. She tried to appear serious, but bits of sadness and longing were already slipping through her solemn demeanor.

"You and I both know that after tomorrow, the likely-hood of us seeing each other again is probably as likely as Hitler walking through that door." Rose nodded toward the closed room door.

"Would make things a hell of a lot easier if he did…" Dick looked towards the door and squinted, trying to keep their conversation from getting any more depressing than it already was.

Rose rolled her eyes and smiled, but it quickly fell away. She had to get what she needed to say out while she still had to guts to.

"You know what I'm trying to get at though, right?" She asked.

Dick looked back down at Rose with doleful eyes and solemnly nodded.

"Yah…I think I do." He cocked his head to the side and bore his eyes into her as if he was trying to commit every part of her to memory.

Rose took another deep breath and tried to continue without fumbling her words too much.

"I thi...think it would be in our best interests if we both get on our trains tomorrow and act as though none of this ever happened." Rose couldn't help but cringe as soon as those words left her mouth. They sounded so cruel and uncaring; like something heartless harlot would say.

As harsh as it sounded, Dick agreed completely…even if he didn't want to. He nodded slowly and brushed a bit of hair away from her forehead.

"I know." He answered.

Rose sadly shook her head.

"This thing might be over next week, but if something happens…I don't think either of us can afford to be daydreaming."

Dick sighed and tried to hide any sadness he might have been feeling. Though she didn't say it out loud, Dick knew exactly what she was talking about. Many called Dick lucky because by all rights, he should have been killed more than a hundred times already. Dick never really believed in luck until the night he dropped into Normandy. He owed a great deal of his survival thus far to his training and his natural instincts, but even the best soldiers, through no fault of their own, could just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even though Rose was a nurse and not supposed to be in harm's way, things could happen. The very thought of that made Dick's stomach twist painfully.

"Yah…you're absolutely right. It wouldn't be fair to my men and I don't want you cutting some poor soldier's arm off because you're thinking about me." Dick shrugged playfully.

"Don't flatter yourself…" Rose rolled her eyes and they both laughed.

They stood there in one another's arms as if both were afraid to let go.

"No strings then?" Rose finally asked after several moments of gazing into his tender eyes.

Dick leaned down so his lips were millimeters away from hers. Rose could feel them smiling playfully against hers.

"Not a thread…"

* * *

There it be…for now.


	8. Chapter 8 Back to Business

So, I've been trying to write my final research paper for the last month, but this chapter has been eating away at me and I just couldn't do anything unless I got it done. So, here it is. Hopefully, now I can get to work on my fantastic (substituted for different adjective that also begins with an 'f') research paper. ENJOY!

* * *

Lewis Nixon hummed as he walked down the quiet hallway towards his best friend's office. That trademark sly smile was present and his playful brown eyes twinkled with contentment. He'd just returned from a lovely weekend back in England with a very pretty, green-eyed, WAC member and he was in a very joyous mood. Nothing could faze him; nothing, except for the empty flask bumping pathetically against his thigh in his fatigue jacket pocket.

He came to an opening in the hallway and glanced at Silinsky's empty desk. Normally, the ever-faithful (to the point of annoying) orderly was perched at the desk, clacking away at a typewriter. Nixon had been there only a few hours ago pestering the chubby private about the whereabouts of the Captain.

Lewis didn't know why, but he just couldn't help but get a thrill out of annoying the kid. Maybe, it was because the kid seemed to look down his nose at everyone, even Dick. It was like the private knew they couldn't do their jobs without his typing skills or maybe it was just because the kid seemed to always ignore him. Lewis was still waiting on his bacon sandwich…

Nonetheless, Lewis had already had his fun with him for the day and was glad to see him MIA at the moment. However, seeing that the pesky private was missing also meant that he couldn't ask if Dick was back yet; which irked the Captain even more.

"For the love of god..." Lewis grumbled and his shoulders slumped as if the weight of the empty flask was too much to bear.

He was about to turn and leave when he noticed a light coming from under the door of the Battalion XO's office.

"Ah-ha." He smirked and tip toed toward the door.

The shade was pulled down over the window and Lewis had a vision of Silinsky sitting in Dick's chair with his feet up on the desk, sipping bourbon, and smoking a big fat cigar. Then again, the likelihood of that image was very slim seeing that, despite all the Lewis' best corruptive efforts, Dick neither smoked nor drank. Nevertheless, the image made the intelligence officer chuckle.

He knocked on the door and smiled widely when he heard the all too familiar voice of Captain Dick Winters.

Dick unenthusiastically thumbed through a stack of papers which had piled up too high for his liking while he was gone. He figured his orderly was bringing him yet another bundle to go through when he heard the knock. However, Dick's face lit up when he saw the S2 saunter in the door with that ever present playful smirk on his persistently scruffy face.

"Hey Lew, I was just going to come find you." Dick smiled warmly as he eased himself down onto the chair behind the large, wooden desk.

"You take your foot locker key with you?" Lewis asked with a wily look on his face and his hands stuffed in his pockets, fingering the cold, **empty** flask.

Dick froze as a perplexed looked crossed his fair face. One of his slender, red eyebrows furrowed in annoyed confusion.

"What?" he asked with squinted eyes.

But, before Lewis could speak, it dawned on Dick. He suddenly remembered a stash of chubby, brown bottles still hidden in the bottom of his footlocker that did not belong to him. Dick's mouth formed an 'o' and he peeked up at Lewis, looking as innocent as he possibly could without smiling.

"Oh…yah, oops."

Dick honestly had forgotten and didn't mean to hold out on his friend. In fact, Dick sort of wished he had thought about locking Nix out of his stash on purpose, because it was kind of funny…

Lewis laughed sarcastically and plunked down in the leather chair next to the desk.

"Yah…oops." He mocked and rolled his dark, brown eyes.

Dick didn't really mind it in there. He was even somewhat flattered that Lewis trusted him enough to keep his precious Vat '69 safe. Though Dick often believed the intelligence officer did it just for the novelty of it. Everyone, including Coronel Sink, knew Lewis had it. But still, as much as they joked about it, Dick was starting to worry about his friend. He'd already had to do an intervention with Harry just after D-Day and it was only a matter of time until it was Nixon's turn.

Dick had gotten in the habit of locking his footlocker since they'd been placed at Mourmelon. After the failed Market-Garden fiasco and the months that followed, the men opened their recently shipped footlockers only to find many of them ransacked. But instead of a newly-minted Captain just being a chicken-shit, nosy privates with too much time on their hands and sticky fingers had been the ones who had taken many of the men's mementos from Normandy. Dick was lucky and had nothing stolen, but he felt bad for the rest of the men. Those Lugers and other spoils of war the men had collected while in France were badges of honor and the thefts only seemed to add to the bleak mood of Mourmeloun.

"Well, I promise for now on I'll leave a spare key under a flower pot next the step, Lew." Dick said in a sarcastic, low voice. He eyed him for a second with a devious smirk before looking back down at his work.

Lewis chuckled and settled himself deeper into his favorite chair. Sometimes, Dick felt that Lewis enjoyed his promotion to executive officer more that he did. The Yale graduate had been a bit lonely up at Battalion, but now with both Harry and Dick dealing with the same B.S., the trio always seemed to congregate in Dick's office with Lewis perched in the chair he scrounged up from god only knew where.

"Haven't you taught that kid how to forge you signature yet?" Lewis motioned towards him with a wave a hand as Dick signed yet another form.

Dick eyed him for a second and smiled as he pushed another sheet into the 'done' pile before picking up yet another. He read it over briefly before scratching his name on the dotted line.

"Probably can already." Dick said as he cocked his head to the side and squinted down at his handwriting. He'd always had a plain, simple signature, but he had noticed it had become increasingly sloppier since he'd started signing a tree's worth of paper every day. "Why don't you grab a stack and help a fella out?" He jokingly suggested to Lewis.

"Sure," Lew nodded and held out his hand. "Gimme the supply request forms, by god we'll have every can of pudding in the whole Army by the time I'm done with that baby."

Dick chuckled and rolled his eyes. Maybe that's why Sobel signed everything with such a pompous, ornate signature. He could hardly imagine the fun the boys could have had with that if it had been more forgeable. Then again Dick had received enough letters from that moron that he could have probably forged it himself. He still had his court martial letters buried somewhere in his footlocker, probably under Nix's hooch. Technically, Captain Winters was still awaiting court martial, but he was pretty sure Strayer had conveniently misplaced the paper work by now. He would have never been promoted to Captain with an outstanding dereliction of duty charge.

Dick sighed ecstatically as he signed the last of his homework for the time being. A satisfying click met his ears as he capped his pen and tossed it idly onto the desk. A small smile settled onto his relaxed face as he leaned back in his chair and stretched his long limbs.

"Harry back from Reims yet?" He asked as he looked around his office that he had not missed one bit while gone.

"Haven't seen him." Lewis answered and crossed his leg over the other.

"Wonder if he got Kitty an autograph?" Dick shot a knowing smirk to his dark-haired friend who just rolled his eyes and mumbled 'oh god'.

Since finding out Marlene Dietrich was in Reims, the short, curly-haired Lieutenant had gone on about nothing else except for how he was going to get an autograph to send home to his beloved bride-to-be.

"Eh, probably got arrested by the MPs for beating up Marlene's bodyguards when they wouldn't let him through..." Nixon mused while looking out the window and shaking his head.

They both laughed, knowing that very well was a possibility when it came to Harry Welsh. Next to Lewis, he was Dick's closest friend. He was a good man and one hell of a soldier, but that Irish temper got the best of him sometimes, especially when it came to something for Kitty. It was a funny contradiction.

A silence fell over the two friends, giving Dick's thoughts plenty of time to drift back to the city and to a certain brunette lieutenant who he got to pretend was his for a few nights. Suffice to say, Dick had broken their agreement more than once already. He missed her. Just thinking about her made his heart flutter and he kept imagining that she'd walk through that door at any moment.

Dick wondered if she'd broken the agreement as well. She would have been back to her post by now and Dick couldn't help but wonder what she was doing. Although he'd held her in his arms earlier that morning, it already felt like it had been years ago. Tonight was going to be very lonely without her curled up against his chest. Their last moments together had been replaying in his head all day…

_The train station was alive with activity. People zigged and zagged through the crowds as they hurried to their trains. It was very noisy. Train whistles blew and steam escaped the mighty engines with a loud, powerful hiss and the smell of smoke and iron filled the air. Panhandlers and conductors cried out their calls over the controlled chaos and there in the middle of all it, to secret lovers stood facing one another._

_Dick stared down at the pair of brown eyes that had captivated him like no other in the last two days. Her dark dress uniform was neatly pressed and the gold pins that were securely positioned in there respected places reflected the sunlight filtering through the skylights of the bustling train station. She looked exactly, if not more beautiful, as she did the moment he spotted her sitting across that crowed café. He wanted so badly to reach out for the sharply, dressed Lieutenant standing before him; his fingers tingled with need…_

_However, propriety had to been re-established between the two officers. The bars on their shoulders might as have been bars put up between them. Besides, they'd already said those types of good-byes back at the hotel._

_Rose's train left at 11:35 and Dick's left at 11:40 on opposite sides of the station and their last minutes together were becoming fewer and fewer. Dick wished he had the ability to slow time so he never had to actually say good-bye, but unfortunately, he did not have that capability. _

_Instead, they just stood there staring at one another in such a way that no one but them would have known they were two lovers saying goodbye for the last time. To the sea of people filtering by, they just looked like two officer in the US Army cordially parting ways._

_Rose grudgingly looked up at the large clock and hid her apprehensiveness with a cough. _

"_Well…" she said as confidently as she could possibly muster. "It was pleasure meeting you, sir."_

_Dick looked down at her extended hand. Déjà vu overtook him and he felt as he was back standing in front of her hotel door, only this time Rose was one who had to strength to say goodbye and there was no returning after this one. Dick took her hand, knowing it was the last time their skin would ever touch. Knowing this, they both seemed to make the moment last as long as possible. Dick's thumb gently and discretely stroked her hand that had become noticeably softer since the first time he'd held it. They held the 'handshake' as long as they possibly could before it went beyond appropriate._

_They loosened their grips and both their hands fell limply to their sides. Dick swallowed hard and stuffed his hands in his pockets so they wouldn't be tempted to touch her again. Rose let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and tried to keep her calm exterior from waning. Oddly enough, Rose didn't feel sad. Somehow she'd managed to convince herself that she should be grateful for their time spent together. Fate is a funny thing and if those boys wouldn't have been goofing around, Rose and Dick would have never met, let alone make eye contact._

_A smile broke out on Rose's face and she couldn't help but chuckle. Dick smiled and gave her a funny look, wondering where the sudden spurt of laughter came from._

"_You know, I never thanked you."She answered, her brown eyes glowing in mirth._

"_For what?"Dick's brows furrowed thoughtfully and he couldn't help but think 'I should be thanking you'._

"_For catching me the other day on the street." Rose replied. "If you hadn't of caught me, I would have spent my leave nursing a sore backside and maybe a broken wrist, but..." she smiled at him warmly with a soft, knowing smile on her lips. "instead I got to spend it with you."_

_Dick hadn't realized that. It was indeed pretty funny how things worked. If she'd gone a different direction or had stood a few feet the other way, Dick probably would have watched her walk away, never to even know her name. _

"_You are more than welcome, Lieutenant." He answered with a broad smile on his face…_

"So...how was Paris?"

Lewis's voice brought the trooper back to reality. The image of Rose throwing one last smile over her shoulder as she walked through a cloud of steam quickly faded away. Dick's glazed over eyes cleared and focused on Lewis, who had a smug smile gracing his square-jawed face.

He'd been the one who'd instigated the pass to Paris in the first place. He knew it would have been a fight to get the stubborn Pennsylvanian to take some time for himself, so Lewis and Harry took the initiative and went right to Sink. It hadn't taken much. Lewis knew that Sink had a soft spot for Dick. The hard-nosed Coronel had been keeping a watchful eye on him ever since he joined the paratroopers. He recognized Dick's leadership skills and his knack for all things military. Nix had a feeling that when all this was over, Sink was going to try his damnedest to keep Dick in the Army.

If Lewis had not been scratching a bit of dirt off is his fingernail, he would had seen the forlorn grimace pass over Dick's face. The redheaded Captain quickly wiped any indication that he was unsure how to answer that question before Lewis looked up, waiting for an answer. Dick knew he'd be questioned about his time spent away, but he hadn't given an answer much thought. He sat up in his chair and leaned his elbows on the edge of the desk.

"Ehh, it was fine." He coolly brushed off and changed the subject. "Have fun in Aldbourne?"

"Yep, grand time. Helen says hi by the way." Lew smiled and bobbed his head up and down and steered the conversation back to Dick. "So, what'd yah do in the city?"

Dick swallowed hard and forced himself to look up into Lewis's face. He shrugged indifferently.

"Walked around, saw the sights, slept…other than that, nothing much."

"Uh-huh…" Lewis answered doubtfully. He couldn't help but feel that Dick's answers seemed almost rehearsed, but then again Dick wasn't much of a talker when it came to himself. Call or it being modest or shy or a little bit of both, but Lewis knew better then to expect too much of story from the quiet Captain. Still, it was fun to pester him. "Nothin' much, eh? Enjoy yourself?"

You have no idea just how much, Nix, Dick answered in his head.

"Yah, I guess I did." Dick answered out loud with the faintest hint of a knowing smile on his lips. "You didn't happen to see the Barnes' did you?"

"I did. Stopped in and said hello..." Lewis nodded, noting Dick persistency in changing to subject.

"How're they doing?" Dick inquired after his adopted family back in England.

"Good. Mrs. Barnes wanted me to remind you that their address hasn't changed in over fifty years and that they do in fact run a very efficient Post Office." Lewis smiled, repeating the exact words Mrs. Barnes had used.

Dick grimaced guiltily and shot Lewis an innocent smile.

"Think she was hinting at something there, pal." Nixon continued, his dark eyes gleaming as he gave Dick a scolding look.

"I guess I haven't been very good about that lately." Dick picked up his pen and twiddled it in his fingers.

Even though he really enjoyed writing to his friends and family back home and in England, he just hadn't made the time lately. Mostly, he put it off because Dick was tired of trying to explain war to people who were being misled by the War Department and its ridiculous propaganda. They just didn't understand what it was really like. Dick no longer had the patience to talk about it anymore, especially with a friend he had once been only a letter away from asking her if she'd, as the men would put it, be his girl.

Just before Moose got shot, he received a letter from her gushing over this new boyfriend. He was a paratrooper from the 82nd who'd been wounded with what Dick thought to be some very minor injuries. Most of Easy had been wounded worse and yet they still remained, so Dick figured he'd been kicked out or found some pathetic loop hole to get sent home. She boasted how this man was some amazing war hero and told Dick about all the things he'd been involved with, but unless the guy was the Flash, he was just talking himself up to impress her. There was no way he could have been involved in the battles he claimed to be because some of them happened several hundred miles apart within hours of each other.

After that, Dick realized how clueless the girl was to the real world. Dick just didn't want to deal with her anymore, and because of that, just didn't feel inspired to write to anyone, even his family. There was one person who he wished he to write to; who would understand completely, but they'd agreed that they couldn't. He wouldn't know what to write to her anyway...

"So, really…what did you do on your pass?" Lewis once again broke Dick's train of thought with his line of questioning.

"Like I said, nothing much." Dick tried not to let his annoyance with his friend's persistence show. He was starting to feel like he was one of Lewis' POWs being interrogated. Dick wondered if Lewis used the same technique of annoying them into insanity in order to get them to talk.

"Nothing much," Lewis exclaimed. "You mean I got down on my knees and groveled in front of Coronel Sink just so you could do _nothing much_?"

Dick rolled his eyes at his friend exaggeration. He was sure Lewis just used that charm of his and a glass of Southern Comfort to get the Coronel's signature. If one knew how, it didn't take much to get anything out of that man.

"Did you run into anyone you knew?" Lewis asked, still trying to milk some sort of information out of the Captain.

I got to know someone, Dick said in head, but he just shrugged and scratched the corner of his eye with his index finger.

"Nah, thought I saw someone, but it wasn't who I thought it was." Dick said truthfully, thinking of the boy from the train.

"Well, then did you meet anyone interesting?" Lewis prodded.

A coy look passed over the redhead's pale face, but it disappeared before the intelligence officer could even notice.

"I uh," Dick cleared his throat that felt like it was starting to constrict. "I chatted with a lieutenant from a medical unit who followed us during Normandy and cleaned up the mess. We swapped stories a little bit."

Dick picked up the pile of papers he'd signed and nonchalantly flipped through them, checking to make sure he hadn't missed any, but really was avoiding meeting Lewis' quizzical eyes.

Luckily for the Captain, the other Captain didn't analyze that statement as critically as Dick had expected. Lewis just shrugged it off, but if he would have paid more attention, he would have noticed how jumpy his teetotaler friend was. Lewis knew Dick wouldn't have any wild stories to tell, he just liked making the altar boy squirm.

"Damn." Lewis said sarcastically and snapped his fingers. "I was really hoping you'd come back with some juicy story and I would have had the satisfaction knowing I took part in the corruption of Saint Captain Richard D. Winters."

Dick tried not to smile too wide. For a brief moment, Dick considered fessing up, just so he could see the shock on Lewis's face. It would be priceless. But Rose hadn't been a conquest that he needed to declare victory over, even to Lewis Nixon. Their relationship was something that they shared just between themselves and besides, it was easier to keep a secret if you were the only one who knew it. Dick set the stack of papers back down and sighed silently to himself. He hoped that statement meant that he'd successfully deterred Lewis from any more nagging.

"Better luck next time buddy." Dick smiled knowingly and chuckled softly.

"Yah," Lewis sarcastically sighed in defeat as settled deeper into his chair. "guess I'll just have to go with you next time to make you do things right."

The corner of Dick's mouth curled up as he thought about all the times he wished Nixon had been with him to help him out. Then again, Dick doubted things would have gone as far as they had if Dick had not been without his friend. No doubt Nixon would have encouraged him to pursue Rose, but Dick wouldn't have actually done it.

"Hey," Lewis perked back up. "I've got a pool going on the football game. Gambling's a good start to moral corruption. Want in?"

Dick shook his head and smiled. Lewis knew his aversion to gambling, and as the X.O., Dick could have reprimanded all those involved, but he was in too good of a mood to care.

"Well if you're playing then put me down for the 502nd." Dick joked, shooting him a shrewd look.

"Ha-ha, cute." Lewis laughed sarcastically. "Actually, I'm waiting to put down my bet until the guys can convince Buck to play…"

Dick's brow furrowed deeply and a concerned frown weighed down his face.

"Buck's back?" he asked.

Despite his reaction, Dick was happy to hear the Lieutenant had returned. Buck Compton, the best officer and leader in the company by Dick's standards, had been severely missed while he recovered from his rather inconvenient injury. It seemed to be a popular wound amongst Easy; one Dick hoped he would never have the honor to endure.

"Yah, showed up the other day while we were both gone I guess." Lewis shrugged and smiled halfheartedly.

"And he doesn't want to play football? Doesn't sound like the Buck Compton I know?" The corner of Dick's mouth quirked back in worry and he leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers across his middle.

"Yah I know. Yah think he'd be out there hoping around on one leg. The guys nominated him for captain, but he said he didn't want to." Nix shook his head soberly and shrugged.

"Well, he might be sore yet. Wouldn't you be after getting shot through your ass?" Dick asked with raised eyebrows and a slight smirk.

Lewis pulled a face and shook his head.

"Yah…can't imagine that was a fun one to deal with. Hey," Lew suddenly asked earnestly. "yah think he got four Purple Hearts?"

Dick closed his eyes and shook his head and a smile broke out on his face. The kind of smile when one knew he shouldn't be smiling, but couldn't help it. But one look at Lewis who was beaming that same grin and Dick could no longer contain his amusement. A hearty chuckle escaped his lips and Lewis joined in.

"Ah, hell…" Lewis commented after the laughter died down. "'spose we shouldn't be taking enjoyment out of another man's misery."

"Yah," Dick agreed as he stretched his arms back and smiled. "probably not…"

A silent lull fell into the conversations and Dick picked up and flipped through a few more stacks of paper. The silence allowed Dick's thoughts to yet again stray. A different kind of smile settled into Dick's features, but this time Lewis did notice. He watched his friend's eyes glaze over and that warm smile on his face seemed to grow. For the first time in a long time Dick looked, what was the word…happy, almost giddy.

"I have to say Dick, it looks like that little trip did you some good." Lewis commented after studying the contented Captain.

Dick quickly broke out of his happy daze. He smiled a shy smile that distracted Lewis from noticing his bobbing Adam's apple. Dick knew he really needed to work on hiding his emotions, but he'd allowed himself to loosen up so much with Rose, it was easy to forget himself. Dick cleared his throat and leaned up into a more formal position. His wooden chair creaked as he did so.

"Really?" he asked sarcastically, only to hide his embarrassment.

"Yah," Lewis smiled and nodded curtly and squinted his dark eyes. "You look…refreshed."

Dick smiled coyly and shrugged.

"Yah, well…like I said it was nice to sleep in a real bed." Along with other certain comforts, Dick continued in his head.

"Yup," Lewis replied as stretched back. "It definitely was nice sleeping in a real bed."

Dick knew exactly what Lewis had meant by the smug smile on his square, scruffy mug. Yet again, another subtle, guilty grimace went successfully unnoticed. If only Lewis knew that his friend had actually been involved in some of the same activities as he had. But, Lewis did have an inkling that Dick was holding something back, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what.

Maybe he got lucky, Nix mused. But that was so unlikely it as laughable.

"Well, you need to pretend you're not in such a good mood, then maybe I can squeeze another pass outta Sink and I can go with you next time. Show you how to really enjoy Paris." Lewis told him with a wink.

Dick eyed him for a second while he fiddled with his pen.

I think I did pretty well on my own buddy, Dick said in his head with the slightest hint of a smile twinkling in his eyes.

"I'll try." He answered quietly, but it was clear he had no intentions of doing so.

"Well, the way it's going it's not like we'll have anything else to do." Lewis commented in a bored voice and sighed.

Dick looked at his friend with narrowed eyes and a sly smile. Lewis was never one to complain about the lack of combat. Captain Lewis Nixon wasn't exactly what you'd call a warrior when it came to the physical aspect of battle. Dick still didn't know how he managed to make it through PT in Toccoca. After all, the man had more alcohol than blood running through his veins. Dick figured he would have keeled over the first week, but somehow he made it. And even though he avoided it by all means necessary, Lewis could pull off some pretty amazing physical feats when it really mattered.

But for all his pitfalls, Lewis was a damn fine tactician and officer. Dick wouldn't want anyone else doing with Nix did. He was probably the best intelligence officer in the entire division and if it wasn't for his aversion to some of the higher ranking officers and his drinking, he'd probably be working for Eisenhower.

"You complaining?" Dick quipped.

"Well, no…" Lewis rolled his eyes. "But Normandy was more cheery than this dump."

"At least nobody is shooting at us here." Dick reasoned.

"Yah, well it might get to the point if they don't find something for these guys to do soon." Lewis said as he stood up stiffly and stretched his back. "I think they actually got us a decent movie this time though. Maybe I'll go check it out."

"Yah," Dick said looking around, hoping to god there wasn't anything else left to do behind the confines of his desk. "Maybe I'll go with you, go see the men."

Dick stood up as well, but not as stiffly. He, unlike Lew, hadn't had the pleasure of spending a night in an Army issue cot, and reversing all the good a few nights in a real bed had done for his body. Just thinking about sleeping make a sad twinge shoot through his chest. After spending the last two nights with his arms wrapped around another's soft, warm body, nothing reminded a man that he was alone more than a single, canvass stretched cot.

"What's the movie?" Dick asked as he pulled his suspenders back up over his shoulders.

It had felt almost strange changing out of his class A's into his ODs again. It was like he was getting rid of Rose by changing out of them. However, he kept on his dark shirt because he could still smell traces of Rose's perfume on it. It was faint enough that no one else would have noticed, but every once in while the intoxicating scent would waft up and remind him of the best two days he'd ever had. Dick didn't think he could ever have that shirt washed again. He'd also been very careful to remove his tie without messing up the knot. Anything that she'd touched, Dick now held sacred.

"I dunno." Nix shrugged and waved his hand uncaringly. "Some John Wayne movie I think."

Dick smiled as he pulled on his fatigue jacket and walked around his desk toward the door. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small set of keys and dangled them tantalizing in front of Lewis's face.

"I think your lease is up Lew." Dick shot his friend a mischievous smirk and dropped the keys into his palm. "Lock her up when you're done moving."

Lewis gave Dick a sheepish look before nodding and closing his fingers around the important pieces of metal.

"Will do." Lewis answered

Dick just patted him on the shoulder and headed out the door. He walked down the quiet hallway and stepped out into the chilly, night air. It had gotten considerably colder while he'd been away, which made it feel like he'd been away a lot longer than two days. He donned his garrison cap and cocked it slightly to the side the way he liked it.

The base was pretty quiet as most of the soldiers were taking haven in the warmth of the indoors. It was almost eerie. Dick's boots crunched in the fresh snow as he made his way through the darkness to the mess hall that also was a movie theater and lecture hall.

As he reached the door, it suddenly burst open, startling the paratrooper. Dick's hand instinctively reached for his sidearm only to grab a handful of cloth. Bill Guarnere suddenly stepped out of the door with Babe Heffron following closely, both cackling about something. The two Philadelphians halted when they saw the Captain.

"Oops, excuse us sir." Bill said cheerfully with his thick Philly accent.

Both soldiers dutifully saluted their former commander, who did the same.

"Bill, Babe." Dick acknowledged the two men with a smile. "You guys get kicked out or is the movie just that bad?"

Bill flashed a Cheshire cat smile and snickered. "Oh a little bit of both, sir. We've both seen it before. Plus Luz thinks he needs to narrate."

Dick chuckled and shook his head. He could always count on Easy when he needed a good laugh.

"Well, carry on. Stay outta trouble." Dick dismissed the two with a smile.

"Yes, sir." Bill smiled and the two saluted again.

Dick followed suit and then stepped in the door that Babe held open.

"Thank you, private." Dick nodded to the other redheaded soldier.

The two turned and headed out into the darkness, Bill still obviously limping from his unhealed motorcycle repercussions. Watching him do so suddenly reminded Dick of something he wanted to inform the man of.

"Hey Sergeant." Dick called out to the retreating duo.

"Yes, sir?" Bill turned and answered promptly.

"I just thought I'd let you know that I received documents about your pending court martial for going AWOL last week." Dick told the shorter man with a seemingly grave voice.

Bill's demeanor immediately sobered and his small, dark eyes fell to the ground. Babe's face took on a similar guilty look and he bit his lower lip, clearly concerned for his friend.

"Yes, sir." Bill answered grimly.

The tall captain stared the sergeant down for a few moments, as if he was thinking about a way to punish the loyal Toccoca man. However, Dick's austere face broke out into a cunning smile.

"But, unfortunately." Dick said in his best officer voice, but with a heavy, sarcastic undertone. "The documents were misplaced and may have ended up in the trash by accident before I could look at them."

Bill's sullen face swiftly broke out into and devilish smile and so did Babe's, but Bill quickly suppressed it and attempted to look serious.

"I'm sorry to hear that, sir." He answered slyly after clearing his throat.

"Most unfortunate." Dick smirked and winked. "Terrible clerical mistake."

With that Dick turned away and left the two men standing out in the darkness. Wild Bill turned to Babe and punched him playfully in the shoulder.

"I always knew that Quaker was a good guy." Bill exclaimed as he turned and continued to hobbled away.

"Were my eyes playing tricks on me, or did he wink at you?" Babe looked down at his good friend and mentor with narrowed, confused eyes.

Bill replayed the conversation in his head again.

"Yah know Babe, I think he did." Bill answered with his brows furrowed. "Hmph, never seen him do that before."

"Never seem him that cheery…" Babe said as the two headed off into the darkness, their voices fading into the wind.

* * *

Alrighty, so I know you're thinking 'hey wait, there's got to be some chapters missing?' But fear not, there is some logic behind my madness. All shall be revealed in due time. Hope you liked it…time to finish my research paper *gag*


	9. Chapter 9 Unintended Confessions

Hello, faithful readers. Once again I apologize for the delay. I may have been cured of 'academia', but now I have 'summeritis'. It has been too beautiful outside that I just haven't been able to sit at a computer more than a few minutes. Thank goodness for rainy weekends; they justify laziness and creativity. Of course, I have to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews. They really keep me excited about writing. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Oh, and a quick correction. In past chapters I said Rose was 23 years old, but I've decided to change her age to 25. It's not too significant, but just for future reference…

So without further ado, here it is…

* * *

"So, did you meet some dashingly, handsome Frenchman who swept you off your feet and made passionate love to you for hours on end?" 2nd Lieutenant Annie Scofield jokingly asked her brunette friend over her shoulder.

She turned back around and whipped out a pillow case and folded it neatly into a regulation square and added it to the pile.

The two women were busy in the laundry tent at the current home of their field hospital. It was in a pleasant place just outside of a small town in France. The small village of tents was set up in a farmer's cow pasture not far from an air field. It was protected from the wind by a small hill on one side and a row of trees on the other. It was going to be a nice place to spend the French winter.

The small, quaint town was only a short walk down the road and Paris was only two hours away by train. After the months the unit had spent roughing it in tiny, tacked up tents in muddy fields with artillery fire not three miles away, this place was a resort. Being in a stationary position with no pending orders to move allowed them to actually set up some more permanent amenities like showers and latrines. Since there weren't many casualties, due to the lack of military movements, the personnel had lots of free time and were able to make themselves more at home. Instead of living out of their packs, they had sturdy tents that they didn't have to take down and move every few days. Some people had quite the décor going on in their canvass abodes. There was even talk of an Officer's Club going up, but that was only a rumor the enlisted personnel weren't too happy about.

Rose had returned from her pass to Paris earlier that day. As a First Lieutenant, Rose was also a Chief Nurse and in charge of the post op ward and a platoon of nurses. As soon as she got back to the hospital, Rose wasted no time and got straight to work on catching up on her duties. Annie finally succeeded in getting Rose alone after chasing her around all afternoon and evening. They'd been chatting about everything, save for Rose's trip. In fact, Annie couldn't seem to get a word in with the unusually chatty Rose going non-stop. Annie wanted to know everything about Paris. After all, she was the reason the Chief Nurse had gone.

Annie knew Rose needed a break, so when the worn-out nurse refused to put her name in for the 48 pass raffle, Annie, along with the help of Captain Kent, took matters into their own hands. Annie could still see the look of pure, utter shock on the poor woman's face when her name was called. It had been absolutely priceless, though Rose hadn't found it very amusing. After much arguing and near order-giving by Charlie, Rose grudgingly packed up her things and got on the train bound for Paris.

As much grousing as Rose had done about the whole thing before she left, Annie could tell that the trip had done her a lot of good, even without hearing it from the young woman. Rose returned looking better than Annie had ever seen her. Physically, Rose looked marvelous. Her chocolate brown hair, that was usually dull and flat, looked as though it was made of silk, and instead up being pulled back into her usual, teacher-do, it was loosely pulled back in combs with her curls pinned at the nape of her neck. It made her look relaxed and carefree. It was also the first time in a long time that Annie had seen her wearing make-up, even though Rose didn't need it.

But most importantly, Rose was emotionally refreshed. There was a spark in her warm, brown eyes and a small smile seemed to be ever present on the normally stoic woman's face.

Annie repeated the same motion with another pillowcase while she waited for the sarcastic comeback that normally came from her pal after a question like that. Some of the other nurses perceived Rose to be cynical or grouchy, but her dry sense of humor often just flew over the heads of said younger women. Annie and Rose's personalities couldn't have been more different. No one quite understood their friendship, including Rose and Annie. As reserved and clever as Rose was, Annie was just as bubbly and spunky. Rose often joked she lived vicariously through Annie, who in turn believed Rose was the one person who could keep her from doing anything too stupid. However, despite the differences in personalities, they had a lot in common.

Both were from hard-working, rural families and both had lost their fathers. Annie's went out on his horse to check the stock in early spring and a freak blizzard came out of nowhere. His horse came back the next day, but he never did. Annie was about eleven when it happened. However unlike Rose, Annie's mother eventually remarried to a very nice widower who Annie loved like a father. Though one would think she would, Rose didn't feel any jealousy towards Annie when she gushed over her stepfather; Rose wouldn't wish what she suffered through on anybody. The other difference was that Annie had quite a large family. She had one older brother and sister, twin stepbrothers about her age, and then a younger half sister. All three of her brothers were in the service. The twins were in the Marines and the oldest one was an Army sergeant stationed in the Pacific. Annie loved them all dearly and had pictures of them posted all over the tent she and Rose shared.

After no sly comeback came, Annie pushed a pesky strand of platinum blond hair off her forehead and twisted around with a cunning smile on her lips.

"What, trying to count all of the…" Annie suddenly stopped short when she saw the look on Rose's face.

It was a look the blond nurse had never seen before. It was a cross between a silly grin and absolute shame. That look turned into shock when Rose realized she'd been caught. She quickly averted her eyes down at the hospital gown she was patching, attempting to hide the blush burning up her neck to her face. It was no use though; her cheeks were already as bright red as the cross on the side of the ambulance parked outside.

Damn-it, Rose cursed in her head. She would have been fine if Annie hadn't asked her that question at the very same moment an incident with a certain someone was replaying, quite vividly, in her thoughts.

"Rose…?" Annie cautiously asked, assuming Rose was just playing another joke on her. Annie suffered from a certain degree of gullibility and Rose never seemed to miss an opportunity to take advantage of it.

Rose's slowly rolled the curved needle, meant for stitching flesh, in her fingertips and twisted her mouth into a funny, puckered frown. She was unsuccessfully trying to hide the sheepish smile that threatened to break through.

Rose had no intentions about informing Annie about certain events that'd taken place in the city of lights. In fact, she and Dick had an unspoken agreement that neither of them would broadcast their affair. They'd been so careful in their sneaking around that both of them could have been candidates for espionage missions. Neither went through all that trouble just to blurt the whole thing to the first person they saw back on base. But, her friend had caught her off guard.

Rose cleared her throat and collected herself.

"Nothing…" she said as she feverishly jabbed in some messy stitches to the warn cotton; clearly trying to avoid eye contact.

"Nuh, nuh, nah, no…" Annie scolded and wagged a finger at her. "I wasn't born yesterday missy. What happened?"

"Nothing, Annie." Rose repeated. She held the gown up as she pretended to inspect her horrible stitching. Rose cleared her throat. "Did you hear Marlene Dietrich is on tour with the USO?"

"Oh, yah right." Annie exclaimed at the nurse's disgraceful attempt to change the subject. "You aren't getting out of this that easy, so unless you've brought me back the entire Chanel winter line, you better start talking!"

Rose squeezed her eyes shut and sighed behind the curtain of cotton. Her mind raced to find some answer that would deter Annie from finding out the truth. She started forming some elaborate tale about how she met an American…no English, an English spy who saved her from tripping…no, being mugged in the street. He fell madly in-love with her and showed her around the city, treating her like a queen the whole time. He then tried wooing her into marrying him before she left because the next day he was going on a dangerous mission to assassinate Hitler, and he wanted to have someone to love incase he was killed. But Rose refused because she didn't wanted more than one night with a husband. Yes, it would have been a grand tale. She could even throw in that they were being spied on by German agents the entire time.

Rose rolled her eyes at the absolute silliness of her little tale. Besides, Rose could never outright lie to her best friend. She could fib her way out of anything with people she didn't like when she wanted to, but not her with friends. Even as gullible as Annie was, she'd never believe her. But, would she even believe the truth? Maybe she'd think Rose was pulling her leg and just laugh it off. There was only one way to find out…

Rose bit her lower lip, put down the gown, and looked up at Annie with the most innocent face she could muster.

Annie stood before her with her hands planted firmly on her hips and her eyebrows nearly up to her hairline, waiting for an answer and she wasn't going to stop until she got one.

"Well," Rose said cautiously as she looked around and made sure they were alone before turning back to the impatiently waiting nurse. Her brown eyes gleamed with shameful mirth and she muttered demurely: "He wasn't French…"

Annie's expression fell from inquisitive irritation to utter shock faster than a mortar round being set off.

"Rosemary Beyer! You…" Annie exclaimed, quite loudly.

"Shush!" Rose swiftly jumped up. Her patch work fell to the floor, and she clapped a hand over the nurse's big mouth. She didn't mean to tell anyone, let alone the entire hospital.

She removed her hand from Annie's stunned face and smiled, no longer able to keep the bliss she felt pent up. Annie stared down at her friend with her green eyes as wide as saucers, still in complete and utter shock. There was no way, she thought. Rose would never do such a thing.

Suddenly, Annie grabbed Rose's arm and dragged her back to the crate she'd been sitting on. Rose's backside rudely met the wooden surface and Annie plopped herself on another crate across from her.

"You have to tell me everything." Annie ordered Rose as if she were a four star general ordering a private.

"Well, I'm not going to tell you every detail…" Rose said sarcastically.

Annie rolled her eyes and smacked her on the arm.

"I swear," she warned with a dangerous looking finger pointed in Rose's direction. "if you are pulling my leg I will…will, well I don't know! But it won't be pleasant."

Rose giggled and shook her head. It was quite humorous when Annie got flustered. Even though she could have been easily stereotyped as a ditsy, bubbly blonde, Ann Scofield was quite intelligent and very good at her job. She was a quick thinker and an even quicker doer. She and Rose were always the first two choices of all the doctors when they needed a nurse in the field. Rose had a feeling Annie wouldn't be a Second Lieutenant much longer. Annie actually wanted to be a veterinarian, but like Rose, it was even harder for a woman to break into that profession. Annie also seemed to love the Army. Rose had a feeling she'd be in it for the rest of her career. Maybe someday Annie could get into the Vet Corps through the Army.

"Well?" Annie urged, leaning forward towards Rose with a little shake of the head that said 'I'm waiting'.

Rose stared her down a few more seconds. She bit her lower lip apprehensively. The idea of the spy story still sounded pretty good. However, Rose sighed and a fond smile crept onto her face…

* * *

"I…I'm, I am speechless Rose." Annie finally replied several minutes after the completion of the real story of Rose's escapade in Paris.

"That would be the first…" Rose mumbled under her breath as she toyed with the flap of her pocket. Her eyes flickered mockingly to Annie for a moment before they returned to her lap.

Annie shot her smart-mouthed friend and glare and shook her head. She still couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Annie always knew Rose wasn't a complete saint, but she sure was good at portraying herself as one. Rose was the epitome of a First Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps. Maybe it was because she was a teacher and she had that mother hen syndrome, but Rose was a leader through and through. Even when one couldn't see that silver bar on her lapel, everyone knew she was in charge. She just gave off that impression, and it wasn't because she was demanding or bossy. Unlike a lot of the ranking officers, she didn't let her rank get to her head.

She was one of a four First Lieutenants in their outfit. Captain June Narverson was in charge of all the nurses, and technically Lt. Mildred Clarke was the executive officer, but she wasn't the sharpest scalpel on the tray. Her father was a close friend to the Surgeon General, and that's the only reason she was around. Captain Narverson often looked to Rose for input and reports. Suffice to say, Lt. Clarke wasn't too fond of Rose. She was also the one who carried the ruler around.

June Narverson was a good nurse and nice lady, but she probably would have been better suited at a permanent hospital back in Scotland or something. She was very organized, to the point of obsessive, and couldn't stand the moving and the chaos. She didn't handle being so close to line either. As soon as the artery started booming in the distance, she got as jumpy as a jackrabbit. Rose was the only nurse in the hospital to have seen action before Normandy. Almost everyone, including the surgeons, agreed that Rose probably should have been in charge.

"I just, never would have imagined you…you of all people Rose..." Annie leaned up and shrugged her shoulders.

"Never imagine I wasn't so boring?" Rose sarcastically joked as she picked up her discarded stitching from the canvass floor.

The operating room, the post op, and the recovery wing had rough hewn wooden floors, but the rest of the tents still had tarps laid down over the cow pasture.

"Hey now, I didn't mean that…I just, I…why, why do you think he came back?" Annie asked suddenly, as if throwing the conversation back at Rose on purpose. "After he said good-bye, yah know? Was he drunk?"

"Well, gee thanks Annie." Rose scoffed. She suddenly was starting to regret telling her.

"Oh Rose, you know I didn't mean it like that!" Annie back tracked with a whiney voice. "It's just, you said he was such a gentleman, but why did he come back?"

Rose sighed and chewed on her bottom lip. She knew exactly why he'd returned, but how did one put that need into words? That first night, it had been pure, raw need; just two lonely bodies that longed for some intimacy. But then it turned into something different. By the next morning, it was two people who needed one another. The physical needed was still there, but it was something more meaningful; emotional need.

Rose twisted and rolled the soft fabric of the gown in her hands. She didn't think she could put those feelings into words.

"I don't know, Annie." She finally shrugged.

Annie leaned over, rested her elbow on her thigh, and plopped her chin in her hand. Her perfectly kept brows furrowed in concentration and her mouth twisted and curled. Rose watched her do so curiously. What warranted such contemplation, she wondered. Her friend's reaction wasn't at all what Rose had expected. Annie was such a dreamy romantic that Rose would have thought she would have been delighted to hear Rose had actually had a little fun. She felt more like she'd just told her grandmother than her best friend.

"Are you one-hundred percent sure he's not married or something?" Annie abruptly asked.

Rose's heart stopped for a moment. What if Dick had lied to her? What if she'd been nothing more than a warm body for a lonely soldier? What if he'd lied about everything? What if he did have those six redheaded children running around at home? But those questions came to an abrupt stop as fast as they had materialized. The answer to all those questions was no. Rose knew it down deep in her gut that he wouldn't have lied to her. She too had her grandfather's amazing ability to figure people out, which was why she was such a successful teacher and officer. She knew Dick wasn't the unfaithful or the lying type.

"I'm absolutely sure, Annie." Rose answered with a determined gleam in her brown eyes. Rose leaned back and shrugged as if she was trying to prove herself innocent. "Why are you mulling over this so much, I thought you'd be happy for me?"

Annie suddenly perked back up.

"Oh, of course I am Rose!" She exclaimed, looking appalled that Rose would think that. "I'm just so surprised."

Rose rolled her eyes and set her untouched sewing to the side. There was no way she was going to be able to finish it anyway. She fiddled with a loose thread from the seam of her fatigue jacket pocket. She too was feeling a bit out of place in her ODs after spending so many days in her dress uniform. That had been the first time she'd worn the skirted ensemble in months. She had to have it taken in because she'd lost so much weight during the whole Normandy and Holland debacle. Despite the extreme temperatures and the sand, the food had been quite good in Tunisia. Rose figured she'd dropped at least three sized since June.

"What was his name?"

Rose's head shot up to meet Annie's green eyed gaze. Her brow furrowed while she rehashed her story. Her mouth quirked back as she realized she indeed hadn't mentioned his name throughout the entire account.

"Dick." She answered softly with a warm glow in her eyes and a fond smile playing on her lips. "Captain Richard Winters. He's a paratrooper in the 101st."

Another astonished looked passed over Annie face.

"A Captain?" she said with a low voice, as if she was afraid someone would hear. "Rose, what if you'd been caught; a Captain for goodness sakes?"

Rose's head cocked to the side and a condescending glare quickly found its way to her face.

"Oh, like you should be talking…" Rose stated with a low voice. Her mouth then pursed like she was scolding a student.

Annie's agape mouth quickly snapped shut and she took on a doe-like innocence.

"Captain Kent and I are just good friends." She proclaimed. "Besides, I knew him when he was a lieutenant back in the states," Annie used her extended index finger to help her weak argument. "so, technically it's okay."

"Uh-huh…" Rose shook her head and gave her friend a look.

"Oh stop that…" Annie protested with defeated narrow eyes, realizing she indeed couldn't condemn Rose's actions. "Okay, okay…I'll won't say another word." Her eye brows suddenly shot up again. "But I will say I'm a little disappointed. You're such an over achiever, why didn't you go for a Coronel, or a General?" She exclaimed mockingly.

Rose softly kicked her friend in the foot with her boot and shot her a glare.

"Because the Captain was the best looking!" Rose sarcastically replied as she repositioned herself on the hard, wooden crate. "If it's any consolation, he is the executive officer of his Battalion, and he received the Distinguished Service Cross."

Annie nodded and shrugged, as if to say 'not bad'. The two sat there in silence and Annie watched her friend with a smile growing on her face. She didn't know who this man was, what he really looked like, besides having red hair, or what he was really like, but she wished she could have hugged him. Beside a few warranted glares, that giddy smile hadn't left her best friend's lips. The joy was practically radiating off of the young woman from Wisconsin. She was glowing, and Annie now understood why. Rose didn't know it, but even a few of the other nurses had made comments about Rose's merry mood since she'd been back that short while.

"Oh Rose, it really is so romantic…you should write a novel. Bet it would be a best seller back home…" Annie plopped her chin in both hands this time and dreamingly looked upwards to the canvass roof.

Rose rolled her eyes, but kept that giddy smile. The Annie she knew and loved had finally returned.

"How 'bout I just write a report and send it to Ike." Rose mocked.

Annie giggled and shook her head. Rose was right, probably wasn't such a good idea.

"Besides." Rose continued with a slightly serious tone. "What happened between us was between us…well," Rose eyed Annie for a moment. "it was between just us."

"Hey," Annie leaned back up and held up her hands innocently. "You think I'm going to broadcast you love life over the loudspeaker?"

A wary smile appeared on Rose's face. She was imagining how mortifying something like that would be. Rose could just visualize Corporal Flint, a former sports announcer and official regimental prankster, talking about her exploits over the loudspeaker like it was a casual, morning announcement.

"I know, I know…" Rose replied softly. "Just…please. Don't even say anything to anyone else…even Charlie."

Rose trusted Captain Kent and highly doubted he would have reprimanded her if he found out. He was a pretty easy going guy. In fact, he always told her she needed to loosen up and constantly reminding her it was okay to do something for herself every once in awhile. Besides, he couldn't very well reprimand her with a clear conscience either. But, one too many people had already found out.

Annie cocked her head to side and smiled warmly. She reached out and placed a gentle hand on Rose's that lay in her lap and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I promise I won't tell a soul." Her green eyes glowed with reassurance.

Rose returned the smile and sighed happily. Despite the initial regret, she actually had enjoyed telling Annie about Dick. By telling someone, it felt like the whole thing had actually happened and it wasn't just some fairytale she dreamed about one night.

But then again, telling Annie also meant that Rose had cemented her feelings for Dick. She could no longer deny that she still had them. Their no-strings-attached relationship seemed to be adding a thread with every fleeting thought of the paratrooper from Pennsylvania. Rose had to keep reminding herself that it was over. They'd had their time together. They'd helped one another bury their demons. They reminded each other what soft, caring touches and simple moments felt like in all the death and destruction, and they would never see each other again.

But…what if he suddenly showed up next week to visit her? Mourmeloun-le-Grande wasn't all that far away, wasn't it? What if he broke their agreement and she got a letter from him, what if she wrote him? Would he reply? The optimism was escalating with every hopeful question mark.

No, stop that; the rational side of her head scolded her. No more 'what if's'. Rose couldn't let herself fall back into her old habits of setting herself up for failure.

But, I really wish I could see him again; the giddy girl from Paris inside of her countered.

Rose sighed despondently and shook her head ever so slightly. Maybe she needed to go see Major Anderson, the Battalion psychiatrist. It couldn't be healthy to argue with one's self this much.

"Well, are you in love with him?" Annie's voice suddenly interrupted Rose's quarreling personas.

"I…well," Rose took a deep breath to try and calm her suddenly speeding heart.

Love? The thought of love hadn't even crossed her mind all the time she was with the Captain. She'd been too busy thinking about the feelings he made her feel.

Was she in love with Dick?

Well, of course she was, even if she refused to admit it.

He was the kindest, most honest, and gentlest man she'd ever met. Rose had never felt safer than when she was in the cradle of his strong, warm arms. He was everything she'd ever wanted in a man. She wasn't afraid to tell him anything. For once, Rose felt like she could truly be herself in front of someone else. She allowed him to see her at her most vulnerable state and had never felt safer. Whenever their eyes met, an understanding seemed to pass between them. They had a connection that only two people in love could explain.

But, she wasn't supposed to be in love with him.

"No…" she finally answered curtly. "I mean," Rose repented, realizing she sounded awfully harsh. "it wasn't that kind of love, Annie. We respect each other and, I don't know…I guess we just sorta pretended we were in love for a few nights."

Rose ducked her eyes down to her hands, knowing she couldn't even say a little white lie to Annie and look her in the eye. She picked a bit of dry skin next to her fingernail. It had taken one scrubbing with a stiff bristle brush and her hands were right back to the reptilian texture they'd been suffering from for the past few years.

Annie eyed the suddenly sullen nurse in front of her and sighed. She mentally shook her head at her best friend. As keen and wise as Rose was about people, she was completely blind when it came to herself and her own feelings. Annie knew as soon as she saw the giddy grin coming from Rose's glowing face that she was head over heels for this Winters fella. It would take a very particular type of person to make Lieutenant Rosemary Beyer do something so rash and out of character as sleeping with a man she'd only known for a few hours, and he clearly was that person.

Annie had seen the Chief Nurse deal with all the smooth, sly, and sweet talking G.I's; the ones who usually could get a dame with one wink. Their charms fell flat against Rose's impervious heart. While other nurses were reduced to giggles and blushes, Rose, depending on the situation and the degree of flirtation, either dished it right back at them or gave them one 'I mean business' glare and stopped the lustful soldiers in their tracks. Annie always joked there were more men than Rose could possibly count who'd fallen in love with her while under her care. Rose didn't realize her own beauty. She didn't notice the lingering stares or the nudges to their buddies after she walked by a group of soldiers. Her aloofness and her quick wit only added to the package and made the men pine after her even more.

"Well…aren't you glad stopped whining and went?" Annie asked cleverly.

Rose snapped her head up and met Annie's playful eyes. A gleeful smile slowly built on her face until it broke out into a hearty laugh. Annie joined in and the two nurses laughed until Rose thought her side was going split open. Her head fell into her hands and her shoulders shook as the last remaining chuckles escaped her lips. Annie marveled at the sight before her. A satisfying smirk came to her heart shaped face. Rigging the raffle had been totally worth it just to see Rose this happy.

Rose finally leaned up, her face still rosy from the giggles, and wiped the forming tears from her sparkling brown eyes. Rose couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed hard enough to cry.

"My goodness…" Rose breathed as she tried to calm her breathing back to a more manageable pace. "Yes, I am, Annie. I officially apologize for all the grief I gave you."

Annie smiled smugly and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Apology accepted." She nodded briskly.

Rose sighed loudly, letting another giggle escape and leaned back to prop herself up with her arms. Her feet swung playfully over the side of the crate like a giddy school girl on a swing.

"So…" Annie leaned forward again and plopped her chin on her fists. Her lips curled up and her left eyebrow elevated, forming a devilish smirk on her face.

Rose eyed her suspiciously, knowing that smirk meant her friend was about to do or say something inappropriate. Annie pulled off the sweet and innocent routine when she needed to, but Annie enjoyed saying scandalous and inappropriate things that made some of the more reserved and shy nurses blush.

"So what?" Rose inquired, bracing herself.

"Well…how was he?" Annie asked brazenly.

Rose's jaw dropped momentarily, but she wasn't surprised at her friend's question. She knew some risqué question like that would be coming from Miss Scofield.

Rose couldn't deny that their time together had indeed been very, very well spent. It may have not been her first time with a man, but it was the first time Rose had been with a real man. He took her to places she'd only read about in the trashy romance novels she and Molly snuck from the latter's mother's stash. Dick far exceeded any expectations she'd imagined about his abilities. His touches had been so tender that he could have hypnotized her at times, and then sometimes they were so passionate they made her dizzy.

"None of your business, Annie." Rose retorted smartly. "That's how he was."

Rose knew that answer wouldn't satisfy Annie's curiosity, but she hoped it would deter it.

"Oh come now, I'm not asking details…" Annie persisted. "Just a rating?" She shrugged innocently.

Nope, didn't think so…

Rose shot her a look and stood up from her crate. She tugged her bulky fatigue jacket down into place and surveyed the tented laundry room. The large pile of sheets from the recovery tent had been reduced to a neat stack and there really wasn't anything else left for them to do except take them and put them on the empty beds. Annie followed suit and stoop up with her arms crossed and her foot tapping steadily on the canvass floor. She had that impatient look on her face again.

Rose shook her head and smiled grudgingly. Wrapping her scarf snugly around her neck, she picked up a stack of sheets and headed for the door. Annie was about to call out in protest to the retreating Lieutenant, but she was cut short by Rose.

"Four stars." Rose said over her shoulder and smiled shamelessly with a devilish fire in her eyes.

Annie stared at her friend's back for a few seconds before a laugh escaped her lips. She couldn't help but notice there seemed to be a swagger in Rose's step. She picked up the remaining sheets and quickly hurried after her through the door.

"Hey." She called out to Rose in the frigid night air and jogged to catch up with her. "So, what'd you bring me back?"

The sound of Rose's laughter faded into the wind…

* * *

Well…there it is. I'm not going to make any promises on when the next chapter will be up, but I promise I'll keep plugging away at it. Might have to bribe the weather gods again…

Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10 Welcome to Hell

Greetings. My deepest, most sincere apologies for the delay. July was a crazy busy month and I pretty much had to lock myself in a small room with no window to get this one done. I almost published it a few weeks ago, but I just wasn't satisfied with it and I just couldn't seem to make it any better. So after watching the entire Band of Brothers series again for the tenth time and reading a very good, unrelated novel, I was finally inspired to write again. Once again, I'm so sorry for the wait. Even I was getting impatient with myself, but I just wouldn't be able to live with myself if I published something that wasn't worthy of you wonderful readers. :)

* * *

"I was going to be a ballerina." Rose said as she and Dick walked past the brilliant, ornate opera house where a group of young girls wearing matching jumpers filed out the door in perfect rows.

Dick looked down at her and the corner of his mouth curled up in that crooked smile of his.

"Really?" he questioned doubtfully with narrowed eyes. He pictured her as the tomboy type as a child, and the image of her in a pink tutu just didn't seem right.

"Oh yah, I was obsessed." Rose looked up at him and nodded curtly. "I saw those ballerina paintings in a book and I pestered the heck out of my entire family until Ma finally found me a place to take lessons, which, how she ever did in the boonies of Wisconsin I'll never know."

Rose smiled fondly, remembering those days when, even despite the depression, life seemed so much more peaceful and easier. Rose never really knew her grandparent's until they showed up a day after her mother died. They lived a few hours away in southern Wisconsin. Her father was determined to make it on his own as a farmer, so that's why he found his own place in his own part of the state. After he died and her mother remarried, Rose's stepfather wouldn't allow them to see the children because he was that kind of son-of-a-bitch.

Karl and Lena Beyer were extraordinary people who'd worked very hard and made it through some very tough times. They'd married when they were only seventeen and by the time they were 20 they had Rose's father, Joseph, twin daughters and 89 acres of untamed land to cultivate.

Lena was a typical farm wife. She could milk the cows, castrate a boar, hitch a team of horses, and shoot a shot gun better than most men. And yet, she did the most beautiful crocheting and embroidery and made the lightest and fluffiest pastries one had ever tasted. However, she was also the one who gave Rose her inability to keep her mouth and temper in check. Rose may have had her mother's looks, but her head was every bit her Ma's. Some people were downright scared of Lena, but she wasn't an ornery woman in general. Lena had a heart of gold underneath her stern exterior, but crossing her was more dangerous than pestering a rattle snake.

Karl Beyer was a short, lean man with not many hairs left on his head. He was very strong for his size and worked twice as hard as men half his age. He'd cleared every field and pounded almost every nail of every building on the home farm. Besides his Sunday suit, Pops never wore anything else but the same ensemble of a light blue, long sleeved shirt, denim overalls with a pocket watch tucked in the front, and a brimmed cap. Karl was a loving, easy going kind of fella who always had a piece of candy in his pocket. For the most part, he was a quiet man who liked to sit in the corner of the room and just listen to everyone else jabber on. He was a man of few words, but when he did say something people listened very carefully; whether it be an intelligent opinion on a situation or the latest joke he'd heard.

When the Beyer children suddenly became orphans, they weren't exactly keen on moving in with people they barely knew. Their maternal grandparents were dead and her mother, Mary, was an only child, so they had absolutely nowhere else but an orphanage to go. All three of them weren't exactly the best behaved children either. They'd had adopted a rebellious nature towards their stepfather, and several other related behavioral issues stemmed from it. Carlye lost quite a bit of his childhood due to everything that had happened and often acted like he was all grown up and didn't like being told what to do. Henry had one foot in the jail house due to his illegal antics of theft and vandalizing. And Rose, well, she was ever the smart mouthed, unruly, little firecracker of a girl who had a mind of her own.

It took some time before the Beyer clan settled into their new life. They were all a bit wary to trust their new guardians; they just weren't used to so much unconditional kindness. There were a few moments where it seemed things weren't going to pan out. Luckily, they did. Karl and Lena were able to give the three kids, who'd been through hell and back, a stable, loving, disciplined home.

The Captain and the Lieutenant came to a stop and looked up at the magnificent building that towered over their heads. Dick let out a sigh, but it wasn't a sigh of boredom, frustration, or weariness, for first time in a very long time, it was a sigh of contentment. The unusually warm sunlight beat down on their faces and the warmth only added to pleasantness of the situation. They stood there for a minute gazing up, both smiling for no particular reason.

"So," he asked still squinting up at the tall, gilded pillars "whatever happened with that plan?"

Rose's mouth twitched ever so slightly and her eyes followed his gaze up to the ornate sculptures at the top of the pillars. She placed her hand on her cap as she tilted her head up so it wouldn't slip off. Several moments passed before she answered.

"Did a twirl in the kitchen after the first class. Broke two glasses, Pop's favorite mug and sprained my ankle." She finally answered in a flat, emotionless voice. "I never went to another lesson."

Dick glanced down at her for a second before looking back up to the sculpture she was focused on. He didn't say anything at first, but a tiny hint of a smile graced his features and his eyes twinkled in amusement.

"No tour then?" he asked, trying his damndest to hold back a smile.

"No." she said impassively with narrowed eyes as she shook her head. She turned away from the magnificent building and started walking back down the steps, her heel clicking against the cobblestone. "No tour."

Dick didn't move a muscle as she walked away. He just stood there, with his hands lazily resting in his pockets, still craning his head up to towards the amazing structure. Suddenly, he closed his eyes and laughed. He gave the opera house one last glance before following her down the steps…

_Crash!_

Lieutenant Rosemary Beyer opened her eyes and instead of busy, Parisian streets and the bright sun warming her back, she found herself looking across a stack of crates to a dark, dirty, green, canvass truck canopy.

_Ba-Boom! Crash!_

Rose cringed as her already sore tailbone met the hard, wooden truck bed again for the millionth time.

Rose's outfit had been enjoying another quiet afternoon making Christmas decorations and gifts when suddenly a serious voice came over the loudspeaker and told the entire camp to start packing immediately. Tents were torn down and supplies dumped into crates in record time. Captain Naverson nearly had another mental breakdown as everyone did so. Rose had to give her the usual pre-moving out 'everything will be put in its proper place when we get there' pep talk. Lieutenat Clarke ran around pretending she knew what she was doing and gave Rose the stink eye every time June called for Rose.

The nurses threw on their winter gear, what little they had, and packed everything else into their footlockers they knew they probably would see again for some time. They were ordered to only take the mandatory essentials. They had everything they would need in their packs around their shoulders, and those only held so much of even the mandatory things. They were then very hastily stuffed in the nosy, drafty trucks and been on the road ever since, stopping only once to refuel and relieve themselves.

The Chief Nurse wore every layer of ODs ever issued to her and already Rose was frozen stiff. Just the other day, Rose had gone around and collected her nurses clothing sizes so they could get issued their heavy winter wear. Up until the day after Rose returned from Paris, it had been a very mild European winter, so no one had give much thought to long-johns and mittens until the mercury started dropping. Rose left the form with Captain Kent's orderly, who said they'd probably get their stuff in about two weeks. Rose distinctly remembered commenting about how soon that seemed.

Now there they were…two days later in the freezing cold with only a scarf, a thin pair of gloves and their light fatigue jackets (the same jackets they'd carried off the boats in Normandy), and one extra pair of socks. Some nurses were lucky enough to have gotten a fatigue sweater, but Rose was in Paris when they were handed out. Rose didn't know if Kent's orderly had sent the form for their much needed warm clothing or not, but Rose had a feeling they wouldn't be seeing it anytime soon. The irony of that remark she made to Kent's orderly still ate away at Rose's conscience.

Rose snuggled her face deeper into her scarf and scooted her knees closer to her body as she swayed with the rocking truck. The tip of her nose had long ago lost feeling and her stiff, tingling toes were headed for the same fate. Her fingers saving grace weren't the paper-thin gloves she wore, but her armpits which they were stuffed under. She would have loved to have been able to go to sleep, but the non-stop bouncing and banging, kept her painfully awake.

"Rose, where on earth are we going?"

Annie, the only other person in the supply filled truck, readjusted her helmet and scooted closer against her friend. The rest of the nurses were riding a bit more comfortably in personnel vehicles and ambulances. Rose had been too busy making sure that everything else had transportation that she had forgotten to save herself a seat. Captain Naverson offered Rose a spot in the Jeep she and Lieutenant Clarke were riding in up ahead of them. It would have been more comfortable than bouncing around in the supply truck like a rock in a tin can, but Rose chose the latter over enduring Lieutenant Clarke's icy glare the entire time. Thankfully, Annie was gracious enough to give up her spot in an ambulance so her friend wouldn't suffer alone with the bedpans and IV bottles.

"Rose? Did you hear me?" Annie asked, elbowing her fellow frozen nurse in the arm.

Annie practically had to shout to hear even herself over the roar of the convoy.

"Somewhere in Europe." Rose answered after freeing her mouth from the confines of her warm scarf.

"Oh, ha-ha." Annie replied snidely to the shivering woman. "Aren't…" she was interrupted as the truck flew over another bump, sending the two woman a good foot off their seats.

Both Rose and Annie reached out and grabbed whatever purchase they could find as the truck clattered and banged over a series of ruts and potholes. Rose felt like she was thirteen years old again and riding in the back of her grandpa's Chevy flatbed truck with her brothers. It was always quite an event to go into town. Pop would usually go every few weeks to run errands and buy or sell livestock and grain. Ma usually came along and would sit up in the cab with Pop. She'd do her best to coax Rose up to the front where the 'ladies' should sit, but unless it was raining, Rose refused to give in. The three kids had too much fun bouncing around back there. There was a nasty bump in particular that they looked forward to every trip. Rose and her brothers would stand at the back of the bed and hold onto the stock racks while Pop sped up. They'd go flying up in the air and it was a miracle that none of them ever flew right off the vehicle and onto the road. Usually, the only casualties were the ice-cream cones they picked up at the general store.

Annie reached up and strapped her helmet around her chin after the road finally flattened out. She would have just taken it off, but it did seem to be keeping her head warm.

"Aren't you supposed to know these kinds of things _Chief_?" Annie finished asking with an extra, snide emphasis at the end.

Rose screwed up her face and shrugged like she had no idea what Annie was talking about.

"I'm not an intelligence officer." She shot back with a devious glimmer in her eyes.

She followed Annie's lead and tried to buckle the strap of her helmet. Her numb fingers could hardly handle the thin nylon strap. It was like trying to thread a needle while wearing oven mitts.

Annie rolled her eyes in exasperation and hugged her legs against her chest with her arms.

"You know, I am really happy that you had a swell time with Captain Frosty…" Annie took notice of the suddenly fierce glare Rose shot her, but ignored it and continued anyway. "But I've about taken all I can stand from you, missy."

Rose looked at her for a moment and the corner of her mouth curled up. Even she couldn't deny that her jolliness was starting to even annoy her own self. She just couldn't help it, and she knew Annie was absolutely right about whom to blame. While sitting on that bench by the river, Dick was telling Rose about Easy Company and he made a comment that there were a few men who always seemed to find humor in even the grimmest situations. He said most commanders would find those moments distracting and unnecessary, but he was always grateful for them. Dick said it was amazing how a well timed smart-ass comment could boost the morale of an entire company.

"My goodness Nurse Sunshine…" Rose feigned a look of dismay and clapped a hand on her chest as she mocked her friend. "am I took much for you?"

Annie shot Rose a look and shifted her sore body, trying to ease the torture to her poor, battered backside.

"I'm just saying that at least I didn't have to endure so much mockery in order to get a straight answer out of the Rosemary I sent to Paris."

Rose's eyes twinkled as her lips curled into a smile. Annie did have a bit of a point there.

Rose suddenly had a violent shiver ripple through her body. The kind that made her entire body convulse like she'd just stuck her finger in a light socket. She then realized precious warmth was escaping from her loose scarf. Rose's numb fingers tucked the ugly, green wrap back around her neck, trying to contain whatever body heat she had left.

"Well, that's your …" Rose started to say.

_Ba-Boom! Bang!_

The truck hit another pothole so hard Rose swore she could see parts bouncing away behind them on the frozen, dirt road

_Ba-Boom! Dink!_

Both Rose and Annie yelped and let some unladylike phrases slip from their mouths after their helmeted heads smacked into one another.

Rose's face contorted into a painful grimace as her fingers gingerly rubbed the forming goose egg above her left ear. Damn thing, she cursed internally. About the only thing their helmets were good for was as a wash basin or a cooking pot. Rose could hardly do anything while wearing that stupid tin can, let alone comprehend how soldiers fought in them. They weren't bullet proof and they traded protection for the ability to hear. Dick admitted to her that most the Allies knew the Germans had a much more practical and effective helmet. However, not only was it a matter of being able to tell friend from foe, but the Kraut cover had become an infamous identifier of evil in the rest of the world's eyes. The good guys couldn't very well run about wearing that same thing, even if it would have saved thousands of Allied lives.

"You were saying…" Annie asked after her teeth quit vibrating.

"I said that's what you get for putting my name in that lottery!" Rose yelled over the roar of engine downshifting.

Annie's green eyes bulged.

"I did no such thing!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, who else would have done it?" Rose cried out with an accusing glare.

Annie's face twisted into a shamefaced grin and she shrugged innocently. Annie should have known better than to go on thinking Rose was still oblivious to her well intentioned misdeeds. It had actually been Charlie's idea to rig the raffle, and Annie did the sweet talking. Charlie swapped out the helmet full of other people's names for one filled with slips of folded paper with 'Lt. Rosemary H. Beyer' written on them while Annie kept the pimple faced private, tasked with guarding the helmet, occupied. After that it was just a matter of praying nobody inspected the rest of the slips too closely. That's why Charlie fought tooth and nail with Rose about going after she refused the prize. He knew if they tried picking another name, they'd be found out.

"Hey…if it hadn't been for us, you'd a' never had the most romantic experience of your life!" Annie shouted and nudged Rose in the shoulder.

Rose wrapped her arms around her legs and glared at an innocent box marked in large stenciled letters 'Rubber tubes'. Annie had many vices that annoyed Rose, but the one that aggravated her most was that if Rose happened to be wrong about something, Annie would never let her forget about it.

"Are you going to hold this over my head for the rest of…" she started to ask, but her brow suddenly furrowed when she thought about what Annie had just said. "Wait…what do you mean by _us_?"

"…what?"

"Who is _us_?" Rose repeated.

"Us?" Annie declared, seemingly taken aback. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Annie tried to act totally innocent, but her eyes got freakishly round and her lower lip protruded so far it was in danger of falling off. She turned her head away and looked around the truck, knowing she couldn't look in Rose's eyes without breaking out in laughter. Rose stared her friend down with narrowed eyes for several seconds, like the bad cop in an interrogation room, waiting for the blonde woman to crack. But after no confession came, Rose just turned away and shook her head.

"I'm going to kill that man…" Rose glowered, knowing exactly who Annie's partner in crime had been, even without her confession.

Annie turned back towards the Lieutenant with a scolding smirk on her lips.

"Oh…Charlie did it because he knew you needed it." Annie defended the Captain. "Besides, you should be thanking him…remember?"

There Annie went again, but she did have a point. Rose was trying really hard to be mad, but if those two meddlers hadn't done what they'd done, she would have just sat around the base last weekend. Instead, she got to spend it in Dick's warm embrace. Rose finally admitted defeat and shook her head with a smile on her lips. How could she stay mad at Annie and Charlie when they gave her those two incredible nights? She turned towards Annie and the two women shared a look, making Annie giggle.

She loved it when she was right.

Rose pursed her lips, trying to look annoyed again, but it only made Annie's smile grow. Rose dropped her chin to her chest, making her helmet slip forward and cover her eyes. Rose was supposed to forget Dick, act like they'd never met, but the warm, fluttery feeling the thought of his crooked smile and soft kisses gave her was addicting.

She sighed and pushed her helmet back and leaned her head against the side of the truck. They seemed to be on a much smoother stretch of road and without constant, bone-rattling jarring, Rose was beginning to notice the heaviness of her eyelids. Rose lolled her head to the side and noticed Annie was thinking the same thing. She'd nuzzled her nose down into her scarf and jacket and her green eyes had that sleepy, blank look about them.

Rose shifted her body so her side was leaning up against the metal wall of the truck bed. It eased the pressure on at least one side of her aching backside. She pulled her scarf back over her face and hugged her torso with her stiff arms. She drifted off into a fitful sleep, imaging her head was tucked against the warm, muscular shoulder of a redheaded Captain…

* * *

"Looks cozy…"

Captain Winters looked up from the frozen dirt he was chipping away at with his tiny entrenching tool and squinted against the brightness of the snow. The extreme difference in values between the black soil and the white blanketed forest made it hard for Dick's eyes to adjust and make out the face under the frost covered helmet. At least he could tell from the silhouette and shape that it wasn't a Kraut looming over him; which honestly wouldn't have surprised him. However, Dick didn't need visual conformation to know who the man was. Dick could recognize that nasally voice anywhere.

"Harry." He acknowledged to the Lieutenant as he squatted down next to Dick's half done foxhole.

Dick tossed another scoop full of what might as well been concrete over his shoulder and jabbed his entrenching tool down into the dirt the best he could. He grimaced as he took a deep breath. The cold air stung the inside of his lungs like he'd just inhaled acid fumes. It made his whole neck and chest ache painfully and it felt like he had glue stuck in the back of his throat. Digging a fox hole was already a strenuous task as it is, but the cold air made it ten times more so. Dick was top physical shape and in normal circumstances could have a regulation foxhole done in twenty minutes or less. But their current situation was far from normal.

Then again, what the hell was considered normal circumstances in war?

They'd been in Bastogne for what had been the longest, coldest, and most stressful two days of the war for Dick, and probably the entire 101st. It was almost certainly one of the most aggravating battles of the entire war thus far. Every day they were engaged by the enemy. They'd gain some ground, only to lose it a few hours later to the Krauts. Dick felt like they'd been abandoned on a leaky ship. They'd plug up one hole only for it to spring another leak, and they were running out fingers to stick in the holes. But at least, they'd held onto Bastogne and its roads that were vital to the German's advance. They finally seemed to have a solid position around the town and where digging in to keep that line.

Adding to the aggravation was the lack supplies. Even though he couldn't do a thing about it, Dick couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow his fault for how unprepared the men had been. Of the three companies in the battalion, Easy was the worst off. They already were only one crate of beans a few loaves of stale bread away from running out of food, and the unusual winter fog made it absolutely impossible them to be dropped supplies. Lieutenant Dike hadn't heeded Dick's advice and some of the men didn't even have gloves or a full clip of ammo

Norman Dike…the name was almost becoming a curse word. Dick was raised not to judge people he didn't know very well. When he first met the man, Dick hadn't been impressed. He had this smug look about him, and not a confident smugness. It was like he was looking down his nose at everyone around him. However, Dick tried to give the man the benefit of the doubt; he knew not everyone made good first impressions.

But, Dick had yet to have an encounter with the man that changed that first feeling of dislike. Somehow Dike always managed to make himself look like an idiot and denounce the people around him.

"_Can you believe that? We're going to the front. The front! And our CO isn't even in the same damn country!"_

Dick had to hold back every impulse in his body in order to keep his mouth shut while the man whined about Strayer's absence. As he stood there next to that fire, the XO wanted to say something like 'Well, gee Lieutenant, I'm so flattered that you have so much confidence in my leadership abilities' or 'Oh, he's not back yet? That is a problem because they never told me what Executive Officers are supposed to do'.

Or something along those lines of sarcastic and snide; something that Rose would probably say in a moment like that. It probably would have made Buck's and Peacock's night.

None of the other officers liked Dike. He wasn't put in charge of Easy because he was a brave, hard working tactician with excellent leadership potential. Better qualified officers were passed up because Dike was chummy with the right people in the right places who knew he needed some dirt on his boots to make it up the ladder. Dick assumed the plan had been to let him play soldier for a few months before they promoted him somewhere else. Unfortunately, his attempt to spruce up his resume couldn't have come at a worse time for Easy.

Foxhole Norman had an authoritative sounding voice. That was about as far as his leadership abilities went. Dike never did anything that directly involved interacting with the men. He probably didn't even know any more than a handful of their names. He never did anything himself either. He'd just let the word roll down the ranks, just like he did that same night they headed into Bastogne. Instead of overseeing it himself, Dike passed the task of finding supplies along to the other officers. Buck did the best he could, but Shames and Peacock weren't exactly the most resourceful people in the world.

If Dick had still been leading his Company, he would have searched every building himself and scrounge every last scrap of food on base. But Easy wasn't Dick's Company anymore. Nonetheless, it didn't stop him and Nix from setting up the Battalion CP near Easy's position. It wasn't the most advantageous plan, but at least Dick could keep an eye on them.

"Well," Harry commentated as he looked around the wintery landscape and grimaced. "pretty sure we'll have a white Christmas this…"

Dick slumped back against the side of his foxhole and let out a lone laugh. The breath that expelled from his lips plumed in front of his face was so dense it almost obscured his view of Harry.

"Santa gonna know where to find yah this year, Harry?" Dick quipped as he wiped his runny nose with the sleeve of his fatigue jacket.

Harry rocked on the balls of his feet and chuckled. He shuddered as a sudden chill coursed through his body

"Eh, wouldn't matter anyway. I've been on his naughty list since I was four years old." His gapped-tooth smile beamed down at the Captain.

Dick chuckled as he pulled his jacket tighter around his body and shivered. He got sweated up digging his fox hole and now that he was standing still, he was quickly getting very cold.

"What's the word?" he asked.

Harry just shrugged and squinted as he looked out into the misty grove of trees.

"Same as it was yesterday…" he sighed, his lower jaw trembling from the cold. "Still surrounded, still no air support, still freezing our asses off…"

A smile that probably could have been more believably classed as a grimace crossed Dick's face. It was a vague description, but there was no other way to sum the predicament they were in up. He tried swallowing that lump of unknown gunk in the back of his throat and he tucked his fingers under his armpits.

"The Kraut's are still pushing west, but there's rumors floating around that the bastards are running out of fuel for their tanks…" Harry continued. "I guess Old Adolf didn't think that far ahead."

Dick's eyes flickered over to Harry's face. His brow quirked up and he bobbed his head.

"It don't seem like there was a whole hell of a lot of planning about any of this, Harry." Dick replied, turning his gaze back to the bottom of his foxhole. He absentmindedly kicked a chuck of tree root with the toe of his boot.

The entire attacked seemed nothing more than a last ditch attempt of desperation. The German's were being squeezed on either side and it was only a matter of time before the Reich crumpled into pieces; either from outside forces beating down on them, or from within. The only thing Hitler had going for him was that he had taken the Allies by complete surprise with this sucker punch. It was a brilliant idea, but they didn't have the man power to support it.

Harry nodded in agreement and sniffed loudly.

"Yah, just had to get one more dirty swing in…" he commented.

Dick's mouth pulled to the side in contemplation and he shifted his weight to his other foot, only to be reminded that it was his bad leg. The bullet wound in his shin had healed months ago, but every now and then it would get stiff and painful. Sometimes, he only had to turn on it a certain way and a sharp pain would shoot up his entire leg. Rose said it was probably because the ricochet hit him close the nerve that ran down his shin.

The sudden thought of Rose caused a hitch in Dick's breath. He wondered if her hospital had gotten dragged into this mess as well. They couldn't evacuate the wounded anyway, so Dick had no idea what hospital was even the closest. The past few days had left Dick with hardly a moment to breath, but he always found a moment to think about Rose. Her brown eyes and warm smile was always the last thing he saw just before he dozed off, huddled under a thin blanket, leaned up next to a skinny tree, or down in the frozen dirt. Sleep wasn't something that came by often or easy for the Captain. Sleep since entering this frozen hell was defined by short, restless cat naps, usually interrupted by tree bursts or bone jarring coldness. Sometimes, Dick woke with frost on the inside of his helmet. He prayed to God every night that Rose was somewhere warm and safe.

A tiny smile formed on his chapped, wind burned lips and he suddenly felt warmth spreading from the center of his chest, relaxing his stiff, frozen limps. It was the same feeling he got every time he thought of Rose.

"Speaking of dirty swings…" Dick suddenly said to Harry. "You been behaving yourself?"

Dick's blue eyes twinkled as he raised an eyebrow towards his feisty friend. Harry had come a long way since he'd first enlisted. Back then, Harry would knock a guy's teeth of for so much as blinking at him funny. Before he joined the Paratroopers, Harry was promoted to sergeant…several times. He kept getting himself busted back down to private every time that Irish temper of his got the best of him. But Harry was a born leader, and luckily the people around him knew so. He eventually straightened out and got sent to Officer Candidate School. He and Dick became good friends after Harry was transferred from the 82nd.

They bunked together in the tiny room at the top of the stairs above Mr. and Mrs. Barnes post office in England. After Dick was given official command of Easy, Harry was Dick's first choice as Executive Officer. Things were perfect there for a while in Easy Company; it ran like clockwork, until Dick got bumped up to Battalion and Moose got shot by that sentry with a nervous trigger finger. If Harry hadn't of went and gotten himself promoted too, he would have been leading Easy instead of Dike.

Harry stared at the Captain for a few moments with evasive eyes before his face broke out into a sly, knowing smirk.

"Been keeping it under wraps..." he shrugged while clearing his throat and repositioning feet in the snow and dirt. "Just might take it out on that idiot Dike though…"

Dick rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Wouldn't blame yah…" he answered softly.

Dick watched a few men mosey around with their arms stuffed under their jackets, stamping their feet into the ground. There weren't many people around, mostly just Battalion staffers. Most of Easy was out on patrol or out at the OP. Lewis was still passed out under a tarp in his foxhole, recovering from his late night spent piecing the line back together.

"The little prick is always hanging around the Regimental CP…I don't think he even know why he's there…" Harry complained.

"That's an understatement…" Dick muttered under her breath.

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"Nothing…" Dick brushed off.

He sniffed back his runny nose and scratched an itchy spot under his chin. He could feel the sandpaper like scruff under his cold fingertips. He cringed at the thought of shaving in the frigid weather. Dick had never gone more than a few days without shaving in his entire life, and less so since joining the military. Besides being a matter of Army regulation and image, Dick couldn't stand letting his face get scruffy; it was itchy and uncomfortable for him.

However, the damage he'd done to his face by hastily shaving with little or no lather and a dull blade in the field was probably more uncomfortable then not shaving at all. Coronel Sink always stressed to his officers the importance of looking sharp in front of the men, no matter how dire the situation was, and Dick maybe took it a bit too seriously. Except, Dick truly believed in Sink's words. If the people, who were supposed to keep the rest of the soldiers' hopes up, looked like they'd given up, how were the men supposed to keep going?

"Well…" Harry grunted as he stood back up. "Think I might go catch some shut eye."

Dick craned his neck back and squinted up to look at Harry's face. He couldn't help but chuckle at the rarity of the situation. Normally, the vertically challenged lieutenant was the one looking up at Dick.

"Good luck…" he offered.

"Thaaahhhnks." Harry said in a long, enormous yawn and stretched. "Jesus…Oh, Sink is giving General McAuliffe a tour, so don't be surprised if they swing through."

Dick liked McAuliffe. He wasn't the typical, jeep riding, golf playing general with stars clouding his eyes. He was the soldier's general. He wasn't afraid to go out to the line and get down in the dirt with his men. He was no nonsense kind of leader who didn't pussy foot around with politics. He got the job done the way it needed to be done, when it had to be done. Honestly, Dick wouldn't have minded if General Taylor stayed in Washington the rest of the war.

"Okay," Dick nodded. "thanks for the heads up."

Harry waved in acknowledgement as he turned and shuffled off towards his foxhole. Dick watched his fellow Pennsylvanian's retreating back for a few moments before he looked down at his foxhole.

"Oh," Harry's voice made the captain turn his head back towards the man. "I never got the chance to ask…how was Paris?"

A shy, lopsided grin grew on Dick's face as he reminisced over his stay in the City of Lights. He'd forgotten Harry had been Lewis's co-conspirator for Dick's little excursion. Harry hadn't been back on base more than an hour when they got the word about the German offensive in the Ardennes.

"It was great…" Dick answered honestly. "I enjoyed it. How 'bout you? Did you get Marlene Dietrich's autograph?"

"No…" Harry answered and lowered his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets like a pouty little boy. "Her body guards wouldn't let me get close enough…"

Dick stifled his laughter and he turned his head away, trying to keep Harry from witnessing his amusement. Dick's shoulders shook he was laughing so hard inside. It was several seconds before he could take a calming breath and compose himself.

"Well, I'm sure kitty would understand." he reassured.

Dick turned his head back towards Harry with his mouth pulled to the side, concealing the smile on his lips. However, his blue eyes twinkled and gave away any attempt to keep his delight covert.

"Yah, yah, yah…" Harry grumbled as he turned back around and walked away.

Dick silently chuckled and shook his head. Poor guy, he thought. Dick reached up and rubbed his chin, almost like he was making sure the stubble was still there…and it was. He sighed and sat down heavily on the earthen side of his hole. He reached in his pack and dug for his razor. He figured he better take care of his fledgling beard in case the Sink and McAuliffe did happen to show up.

As he retrieved the necessary supplies, Rose's face suddenly popped into his train of thoughts. Dick froze for a moment and let the memory play out in his head. It was the morning of their second night together. Dick had brought a few of his toiletry items from his room so he didn't have to leave so early to get ready. As he shaved in front the bathroom mirror, Rose scooted in next to him while she brushed her teeth. There was nothing significant about the moment. Rose had toothpaste dribbling from her mouth and Dick had yet to comb his hair and half a face full of lather, but the simplicity of it was what made it so beautiful. It felt so right to have her there next to him, getting ready for their day. They caught one another's eye in the mirror on accident, and they smiled at each other like two people who knew something that no one else in the world knew.

For a brief moment, Dick thought about how great it would have been to have mornings like that every day…

The tiny, tender smile that had formed on his lips while he fondly recalled the moment suddenly fell into a frown. He couldn't be thinking about things like that; he and Rose made a promise they wouldn't. All that would come of that kind of thinking would be heartache and disappointment. The warmth that Rose's memory gave him was slowly and painfully conquered by a frigid, encroaching chill that crept up his body like some sort of sudden affliction. A despondent sigh escaped his chest and his shoulders slumped as he glanced around the frosty landscape of the Ardennes forest.

He was a long way from Paris and Rose's arms…

* * *

"Welcome to Verviers, ladies."

Rose pushed her helmet back with her index fingers and squinted as she looked around the small town. It was a typical European village with its timber and plaster covered buildings, a lifeless fountain in the middle of the town square stood proud and empty and smoke curled up out of the chimneys on the rooftops. It wasn't like the many other war ravaged towns Rose had seen, because everything seemed to be intact. The only indication that war had even touched the place was the fact that it was now teeming with green, military vehicles and American Army personnel running about like worker bees buzzing around a hive.

Rose reached up and readjusted the straps of her heavy pack that were pinching her shoulders. She and the rest of the nurses of the hospital crowed around a short, husky Lieutenant who stood on top of a garden wall so he could see over group of woman. Captain Naverson and Lt. Clark stood below him facing the rest of the group. They'd arrived early that morning after the longest, bumpiest truck ride of Rose's life.

"As you all know, Hitler launched a surprise attack through the Ardennes. They've completely overrun our troops and are continuing to push west." He announced.

As Rose watched him talk, she noticed that his chest puffed out and he stretched his neck towards the sky, trying to make himself appear taller. He was probably very self-conscience about his size and by the looks of his croaked nose and chipped tooth that flashed every time his lips moved, she guessed he probably made up of for his shortness by brawling.

"You will be setting up the hospital in that building over there." He pointed and all the nurses turned their head in unison towards the large, brick building down the street.

Rose squinted as she sized up her future place of employment. It had one large main hall, then several smaller additions surrounding it. A large bell was perched on the peak of the roof and she could just make out an outline of metal swings and see-saws in the snow blanketed lawn.

"It's a school…" she muttered to Annie, who was standing next to her.

Annie flickered her eyes away from the Lieutenant, who continued his briefing, and looked at the building.

"Its huge." She commented, shifting her bag in her arms.

Rose nodded. Annie was right; it was enormous for a small town.

"Probably a boarding school…" she whispered.

"Helmets will be worn upon exiting a building. No exceptions; fines will be issued if you fail to comply." The man continued. "As of two hours ago, the I SS Panzer Division was 10 miles away and still coming."

A flurry of whispers and gasped erupted from the females. Rose stood there silently and eyed the worried looking woman around her and Annie. Rose thought their alarm was a bit of over reactive. They'd been in worse situations…

"So don't get comfortable…always be prepared to evacuate at a moment's notice"

Rose watched a look of panic wash over Naverson's face.

"We will be receiving a majority of the wounded from the northern forces, so expect lots of casualties…" The short officer nodded to indicate the conclusion of his briefing. "Mam…" he saluted Captain Naverson before he jumped of the wall and made his exit with shoulders back and chin held high.

In other words, there were going to be 18 hour shifts and blistered feet in their future. Rose's cheeks puffed out as an already weary sigh escaped her lips.

"Well…" June said with an overly chipper voice and clapped her hands together. "We have a lot to work to do, so…um," she turned and looked at Lt. Clarke.

Mildred cleared her throat and straitened her back, awaiting June's orders.

"Rosemary…" June suddenly veered towards Rose.

Mildred's nostrils on her large flat nose flared and her beady eyes shot towards Rose.

"Yes mam?" Rose answered, ignoring the feeling she was being hexed the XO.

"You will be in charge of directing personnel. Work with Captain Kent and the orderlies." The tall, slender woman nodded.

"Yes mam…" Rose replied.

What June pretty much meant was 'you handle it'.

"I will, um…I have to go speak to the Coronel." With that she turned and headed down the cobble stone sidewalk with Mildred following like a lost puppy.

Rose's pursed her lips and shook her head. She wasn't one bit surprised. June knew she didn't know how to handle things and she knew Mildred couldn't either, but she knew Rose could organize things. Rose guessed she at least have to give the woman that much credit. Rose suddenly realized the rest of the nurses were hovering around her, waiting for orders.

Rose took a deep breath.

"Okay…"

Several hours later, Rose dragged the last box of gauze pads out from the back of the truck. She set the box down heavily on the end of the bed and instead of jumping out; she eased herself down next to Annie, who'd sprawled her body out on the wooden floor.

"I'm beat…" Annie's muffled voice said from behind the hands that covered her face.

"It's just the beginning, hun…" Rose reminded her.

Rose rubbed her sore shoulders and winced, finding a painful knot. Her body had been already bruised and beaten from the 16 hour truck drive, only then to spend the entire day caring heavy boxes and moving desks out of the classrooms. The school really was the perfect place for a field hospital. It had plenty of large rooms, a kitchen, a large lecture hall that they made a recovery ward, and the dormitories had soft beds and real bathrooms. Things still weren't completely set up, but hopefully they'd be done just in time for the wounded to arrive.

"Don't remind me…" Annie growled as she pulled off her helmet. She too was also nursing a sore body.

Rose almost chastised her about the helmet, but she was too tired to care. The two sat there in silence, knowing it was probably the only break they'd see in the next 48 hours. The ambulances had already been sent out and were on their way back with their first round of wounded. They couldn't lollygag for long, but the two women couldn't bear to stand on their feet anymore. Rose copied Annie and laid back. She rested her hands over her tummy and closed her eyes. She could have drifted to sleep right then and there.

"I heard they sent the 101st Airborne to Bastogne." a male's voice suddenly said after a few moments from somewhere around the truck.

Rose's eyes shot open and her heart felt like it quit beating. Her body jolted up and her ears strained to hear the conversation. Annie turned her head towards Rose and looked at her friend's face with her brows furrowed.

"Rose," Annie whispered. "Wasn't _he_ in the hundred and…"

Rose's index finger shot up and pressed against her lips, making Annie snap her mouth shut. Annie sat up and listened as well.

"They're completely surrounded and cut off. No supplies, no air support because of the shitty weather …" the voice continued.

Rose could hear the sound of a lighter and the smell of cigarette smoke met her nostrils.

"Yah, but they're paratroopers…shouldn't they be used to that?" a higher pitched voice with a Brooklyn accent chimed it.

"Yah, but still…" There was a pause as the man took a drag on his cigarette. "Shit, that's gotta be a sickening feeling, knowin' you're all alone with no ammo and an entire army of Krauts bearing down on yah…"

"No shit…" the other voice answered. "Poor bastards…might as lined 'em up in front of a fuckin' firing squad…"

With that, the men walked away, boots crunching in the falling snow.

Rose couldn't breathe; her hand clutched the front of her jacket over her pounding heart. Dick was smack dab in the middle of the worst of it, with no support. She furiously chewed her bottom as she replayed the conversation she'd just ease dropped on over and over again.

Maybe it wasn't the entire 101st…maybe the 506th had been sent somewhere else, maybe they left the second battalion in reserve…

But, Rose highly doubted any of that. After all, they'd been involved in almost every major battle since D-Day. Just the thought Dick being out in that cold, snowy forest, cold and hungry with no way to defend himself made Rose sick to her stomach.

"Oh god…" Rose breathlessly whispered and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Rose…" Annie said in a soft voice. She put a comforting arm around Rose's shoulder. "I'm sure he's okay…"

Rose took off her helmet and smoothed back her hair with a trembling hand. Dick probably wasn't scared at all, and that's what worried Rose the most.

"You said he was an XO of a Battalion." Annie ducked her head down so she could look into Rose's face. "They're not going to let him run around, chasing Germans. They'll keep him safe."

Rose smiled sadly. Annie made a good point, but she didn't know Dick. They'd have to tie him down and throw him in a foxhole to keep him from grabbing his riffle and running out there with his men. Rose picked up her helmet and set it back on her head. She jumped off the end of the truck and fixed her OD's, which had gotten askew from laying down. Annie's green eyes watched her friend with concern.

"You okay?" Annie asked as she too jumped down.

Rose looked at the nurse and sighed.

"I'm fine…" she lied. "It's just…just I was afraid of this…"

"Afraid of what?"

Rose leaned up against the side of the truck and crossed her arms. She shivered in the cold evening air.

"That I'm going to spend every moment of the day wondering if he's still alive…" she answered and pinched the bridge of her nose before dropping her hands limply to her sides. "We promised each other we wouldn't let our relationship get in the way of our duty…" Rose's voice was hardly above a whisper.

Annie looked at the sullen woman sympathetically as she returned her own helmet on top of her platinum curls. She wished she knew how to help Rose, but Annie had never been in a situation like that.

"Well, don't let it get in the way then. Simple as that. You're the best nurse and the strongest woman I know, Rose. You'll do your job just fine." Annie told her. "Besides, I'll bet you bedpan duty for the next month that he's been thinking about you too…"

Annie eyes twinkled and her rosy lips curled into a sly smile. Rose's head turned towards the 2nd Lieutenant and a tiny smirk did find its way to Rose's lips. Normally, Rose was the one handing out wisdom and word of encouragement. Annie was right. Rose just had to push Dick out of her head for the time being. Rose closed her eyes, let out a heavy, shaky sigh and breathed in deeply. The cold, crisp air seemed to clear her head and awake her tired body.

"You're right, Annie." Rose reached over and tenderly squeezed the former cowgirl's shoulder. "Thanks…"

Annie smiled brightly and shrugged.

"I know I am." She exclaimed, quite boastfully.

Rose couldn't help but laugh. Typical Annie, she thought.

"Come on." Annie said as she grabbed the box off the back of the truck and hoisted it into her arms with the help of her knee. "Let's go get some dinner. God knows it will be our last real meal for a while."

As the two nurses walked towards the school turned hospital, their boots crunched in the freshly fallen snow. Rose stuffed her hands the large pockets of her fatigue jacket and craned her head as far back as she could without her helmet slipping off. The sky was completely covered with snow heavy clouds. As the soft, cold flakes fell on her face, Rose said a little prayer for a certain, brave, redheaded officer.

At that moment, that officer was hunkered down in a frozen foxhole just outside of Bastogne, Belgium, imagining himself in a soft bed in Paris with a beautiful, spunky brunette named Rosemary…

* * *

Psst...hey you...Yah, I'm talking to you. See that little review button thinger down there on the bottom of the screen? Yah, that one. Rumor is, the writer of this story loves getting reviews and they make said writer want to write more and more...so yah know, not to put you under any pressure, but click that darn thing!


	11. Chapter 11 War of the Words

Because I still feel absolutely awful for making everyone wait so long for the last chapter, here be my attempt of redemption. I again want to thank everyone for their patience and their wonderful reviews. I am so grateful for them and it is such humbling thing to know that so many people take time out of their busy lives to read my little story and that they look forward to reading more. Thank You!

Okay…before I could possibly get anymore sappy…here it is. Enjoy!

* * *

"Nurse!" a panic-stricken voice hollered over the flurry of activities. "Hurry it up!"

Rose's feet moved as fast as they could through the crowd of bleeding, moaning, and slowing dying soldiers. Bodies, either immobile or standing, laid or ran about in every which direction, filling the room from wall to wall on the blood-stained, wooden floor. Rose had to step very carefully so to not bump into another working surgeon or operating table.

Suddenly, she stepped into a large pool of blood, making her left foot suddenly fly out from under her. Rose's whole body seemed to turn to jelly, just like that day on the sidewalk in Paris. Except, this time there was no redheaded paratrooper nearby to reach out and wrap his strong arms around her. But fortunately, the nurse's reflexes where quick and her hand flew out to a nearby table and prevented her from crashing down onto the floor. Rose juggled the arm load of dressings she'd been clenching against her chest and by some small grace, not one fell.

"Beyer!"

Rose took a calming breath to recover and continued her perilous trek towards the doctor who was screaming her name.

"What the hell took you so long!" the snotty doctor snapped, and ripped a handful of dressings from her arms with his blood covered hands.

"Sorry, sir." was all Rose replied. However, she had a few other, not-so-appropriate answers in mind.

She wasn't particularly fond of that surgeon. Captain Woods was moody, up-tight and very arrogant. She didn't know much about him, but she knew he came from rich, prominent family in Boston and he'd gone to Harvard, something he never let anyone forget. He'd been a private doctor to the rich before he was drafted and he was hardly suited for triage.

"For the love of god, can't we get some decent help around here?" The Captain grumbled under his breath.

Rose pursed her lips behind her surgical mask and her seething eyes shot down to the writhing body laid out on the operation table. The young soldier had been wounded very badly by a mortar round. Scraps of metal and wood splinters speckled his chest and torso, and he had a rather large gaping wound just below his sternum. Woods dug around inside the poor boys guts with all the grace and sensitivity of a butcher. But, from what little Rose could tell, the shrapnel hadn't hit any of his vital organs. By any means, it wasn't the worst off soldier Rose had seen so far that day.

Suddenly, Woods yanked a piece of metal out from the boy's belly with his fingers and dropped it into a pan. It made a "dink' noise when metal hit metal. Woods didn't seem to think much of it, but Rose gasped when she realized what the imbecile just had done. The wound immediately started profusely oozing bright, red blood; the tell-tale sign that somewhere in the depths of the boy's body an artery had been severed. Rose knew the culprit needed to be found clamped shut, but instead, Woods only packed more dressings on the wound and started picking out the shrapnel around it. The young soldier jerked with every painful rip as the physician uncaringly yanked out the blood soaked, mangled metal out of his flesh.

"Damn-it." The Captain cursed as blood from the huge wound soaked though yet another layer.

Rose narrowed her eyes and glared at him, wondering why the hell he wasn't doing what he was supposed to. How the hell did Woods not see that? The man needed to sedated first of all, and why the hell was Woods wasting dressing, which they were running low on, by stuffing the kid like a teddy bear? He needed to find that gusher and stop it; all of the other wounds were superficial.

Her eyes flickered down to the wounded man's face. His large blue eyes stared at the ceiling and his blood stained mouth hung opened and he gurgled and moaned. His bright blonde hair was plastered against his forehead by mud and blood. Suddenly, his eyes met hers and the terrified, pleading look he gave her burned through every fiber of her body and painfully seared her heart. Every second that ticked by, his crystal-clear, blue eyes went duller and duller and his skin paler, which fueled Rose's resolve and anger.

"Captain." Rose's voice shouted sharply above the chaos. "Captain, this soldier is bleeding internally, you need to find the artery and clamp it before he bleeds to death!"

The Captain snapped his head up to her and his watery, cold, blue eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Nurse," he said venomously. "as I recall, I am the fucking doctor here. Make yourself usefully and go find me some more goddamn dressings."

Rose bit her lip and her brown eyes burned fiercely with disdain for the pompous idiot in front of her. This young man didn't have time for this egotistic jackass.

"At least I am useful, unlike you." She retorted, her voice dripping with scorn.

Woods whipped his head back around and his eyes widened, and though she couldn't see it, she knew his nostrils on his large, hook-like nose flared defensively. She could see his big nose twitch under the cotton mask.

"Wha…what did you just say to me, Nurse?" he sputtered angrily.

Captain Woods would someday come to regret asking that question to First Lieutenant Rosemary Beyer from Mill Creek, Wisconsin.

"I said you're nothing but an arrogant, horse-faced, stringy, son-of-a-bitch!" she yelled, no longer giving a damn for propriety. "Get the hell out my way and go make yourself _useful _by finding a real surgeon!"

Rose pushed herself in front of the flabbergasted officer and plunged her gloved hand down into the gross warmth of the solder's insides. The smell of fresh blood suddenly hit her nostrils like slap in the face. Rose had to fight her damndest to hold back the gag reflex. In the back of Rose's mind, it registered that it was strange for her to be feeling that sensation. Rose had been around blood her entire life. She'd helped her grandpa butcher hogs and chickens. She'd treated hundreds of injured animals and people, but for some reason the bitter, metallic smell of blood didn't agree with her at the moment.

But Rose pushed through it and focused all her senses to the tips of her fingers. The feeling of having one's hands buried in a living being's body was something no one could explain unless they'd actually done it. It was kind of like sticking your hand into a giant pot of hot, slithery pasta. Only a highly trained person could decipher that gooey mess and as Rose blindly searched around in the blonde soldier's chest cavity, she was starting to worry she'd gotten herself in way over her head.

Just when Rose was about to cry out in defeat, she felt it; the pulsing warmth of fresh blood against her fingers. Rose's fingers quickly snagged the tube-like artery and she squeezed it as hard as she could.

Suddenly, Captain Kent appeared at her side. Their wide eyes met, neither believing what she was doing.

"I need forceps!" Rose exclaimed, knowing there was no time to explain.

In a reversal of roles, the surgeon nodded and his hand furiously dug in the disarrayed pile of stainless steel surgical instruments for a pair of forceps. Rose internally begged him to hurry it up. She could feel the pulse of the artery in her fingers dwindle.

"Here!" Captain Kent exclaimed and held the instrument in front of Rose's face.

Rose's free hand flew up and ripped the cold, steel forceps from Kent's hand. She went to work trying to guide it into the oozing mess her other hand was embedded in.

"Suction!" she yelled.

Kent quickly produced the small glass tube and went to work clearing out the oozing blood so Rose could see what she was doing.

"Webb! Webb!" Kent called out for the anesthesiologist across the room.

The balding Captain, who reminded Rose of one of the school board members from back home, quickly appeared at on the other side of the table.

"What'cha need Char…" he did a double take and froze when he noticed Rose feverishly working on the patient and Captain Kent running the suction.

"John, John!" Kent yelled on the stunned man to get his attention. "John, look at me. I need you to put this guy under before he goes into complete shock."

The wide-eyed man snapped out of his daze and nodded. He quickly sat down by the soldier's head and took his pulse before putting the gas mask over his gaping mouth.

The blond soldier quickly relaxed and his eye lids fluttered shut over his wide, cornflower-blue eyes.

"BP is low, but holding." Webb stated, with his fingers on the man's neck.

"What the hell was he thinking?" Kent mumbled, referring to Woods, as he watched Rose's fingers expertly work around in the mess of the boy's abdomen.

Rose's brow furrowed deeply in concentration as her fingers dug and pulled at the boy's flesh. The artery had contracted and she couldn't get it out from underneath his ribcage enough to clamp it. Pages of Gray's Anatomy appeared in her head so clearly she could have had the thick volume right before her eyes. She had practically memorized it when she was fourteen and still had aspirations to be a doctor. She knew exactly what everything she was looking at was and where it was supposed to be. Rose was careful not to puncture any of his internal organs as she probed with the tip of the forceps.

Finally, Rose felt the cold, metal tips touch her fingers that were holding the severed artery. She'd been biting her lip the entire time and she could taste the blood on her tongue, but she couldn't have cared less.

"I got it!" she suddenly exclaimed when she finally managed to snare the perpetrating artery in the grasps the metal tool. "I got it!" she repeated as if to reassure herself that she had indeed done it.

"BP rising, Lieutenant." Webb proclaimed, that time referring to Rose with a small gleam in his eye.

"Good job, Rosemary." Kent complemented as he handed over the suction tube to another nurse. "I'll take it from here."

Rose nodded and extracted her blood soaked hands from the soldier's body. Kent took the clamp from Rose and took her place as she stepped back. Rose held her bloody hands up around the level of her chest, staring at them. She breathed heavily like she'd just emerged out of water after holding her breath, which she had in fact done the entire time. She watched her once steady hands shake like a leaf in the wind. Pure adrenaline was coursing through her veins and the nurse was still trying to contemplate what she'd just done. She wanted to wipe the sweat that was dripping into her eyes, but her surgical gown was covered on so much blood that she didn't a convenient, clean spot to do so.

"Lieutenant Beyer." Captain Kent called out to her softly, his hazel eyes peering over the white of his mask. "You're relieved. Go get yourself cleaned up."

Rose slowly nodded and took another deep breath before she turned to leave the room.

Rose hadn't noticed, but her endeavor had enticed a small group of on-lookers. The flow of wounded had finally dwindled for the time being and nurses and other doctors parted like the Red Sea as she made her way to the door. Captain Naverson stood with her eyes wide as saucers.

"Rose…" she quietly said as the lieutenant brushed by her.

Rose pushed through the curtain that divided the operating area from the prep area. She stood there for a moment, taking deep breaths as the situation she'd just put herself in replayed in her head like a reel on a projector out of control. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. The tangy taste of blood stung her mouth. Rose squeezed her eyes shut.

"My god…" she whispered.

She opened her eyes again and it seemed like she could finally breathe at a normal rate again. She looked down at her blood covered body. There was no telling just how many different, unwilling, donors' blood was on her gown. The first ambulance had arrived around nine the night before and Rose had been on her feet ever since. In the last 20 hours, she hadn't eaten more than a half a Spam sandwich, a mouthful of her Hershey Bar, and sip of coffee Annie had brought her and helped her drink so Rose didn't have to go scrub up again. Normally, Rose was outside the OR, directing traffic, but they needed all the help they had.

At the last count, 124 soldiers had been treated, 45 had been critical and required extensive surgery, 13 of them had been amputees, 52 would return to the battle field in a matter of days, and 14 families would be receiving a visit from a black car with flags on the fenders and a priest inside.

Rose stripped off her gloves and tossed them into the bin and freed her face from behind the confines of the stuffy surgical mask. Her stiff, tired hands could barely carry out the task. She reached around and tried to untie the tiny strings of her surgical gown, but the task proved to be even more unsuccessful that her gloves. Rose's hands fell loosely to her sides. Suddenly, the nurse could hardly stand. The adrenaline had finally run out and Rose couldn't bear to stay upright a moment longer. She sat down on a small stool and leaned back against the wall. Her eyes fluttered closed and Rose tried to relax, but she was at that state of exhaustion where her body wouldn't let her rest.

It didn't take her three second of stillness for Dick's face to pop into her head and it hit her that he hadn't crossed her mind once. She felt a bit guilty for seemingly forgetting about him, but at the same time proud of herself that she'd been able to keep her mind in the right place all night. She'd done exactly what she and Dick talked about and what Annie re-enforced, but it didn't mean she couldn't have little moments, like the one she was having right then and think of that lopsided smile. Her own subtle smile made her haggard face soften into a contented state of relaxation.

It hadn't yet been a week, which seemed impossible to Rose that it had already been that long, but also that recent. The warm weather of Paris and the distance they had been away from the war made it seem like it had been several months since Rose had felt his gentle touch instead of just a few days. However, Dick's memory was still as fresh in her mind as if he'd been by her side only a few moments ago. It was all so contradictory.

"Lieutenant." a stern, low voice suddenly sneered.

The fond smile on her lips was rapidly replaced by a frown. Rose begrudgingly opened her eyes and in place of her former lover's face was the hawk-like visage of Captain Woods glaring down at her with hateful eyes. Rose's warm, brown eyes became cold and hard as she narrowed them up towards the incompetent physician. The two engaged in a seething starring match for several moments before Woods opened his mouth.

"Why aren't you standing at attention, Lieutenant?" he growled.

The muscles of Rose's cheeks hardened and if looks could kill, Woods would have been a smoldering grease spot on the floor. Nonetheless, Rose hauled her tired body up from the stool and snapped to. She stared straight ahead of her as Woods stepped uncomfortably close to her. He smelled of stale cigarette smoke and too much aftershave. Rose didn't fear the man one bit, but it didn't stop the hair on the back of her neck from standing up.

"So you just think you could just go and make a fool out of me, Nurse." he hissed.

You didn't need my help for that, she very wisely only said in her head.

If there was one thing she couldn't stand were officers who were chickenshits. Every unit had one and everyone knew what they were like. They used their rank to as justification to demean and bully the people under them just because they had the insignia to do so. They blamed innocent subordinates for their own mistakes and they did so because they lacked the leadership ability and confidence. Rose suddenly realized who Woods reminded her of; Dick's former commander and nemesis.

Sobel, that was his name, wasn't it?

Over lunch at a small, quiet bistro, Dick told her all about the most hated man in the 101st. He told her about how the insecure Captain abused and mislead the men. He told her about training at Tococca and the things he did that made absolutely no sense, like not allowing the men to drink water on marches and bogus barrack inspections. Rose could hardly believe that the Captain tried to have Dick court martialed for the most pathetic and ridiculous charges Rose had ever heard of, just because the men were more loyal to Dick and he was jealous. Sobel fit the definition of a chickenshit to a tee. About the only thing Sobel could take credit for was that the men of Easy all shared a strong hatred for him, and they knew the only way to survive him was to stick together and be the best.

On the other hand, Woods couldn't take credit for anything like that. He was just an incompetent jackass who'd rather be back in Boston in his cushy office or out on the golf course.

"Sir, he was going to die if…" Rose started to say.

"I didn't give you permission to speak!" he suddenly yelled.

Rose flinched at the sudden explosion, but she didn't move.

"You think you own this place," he said with a dangerously low voice and he leaned closer yet. "don't you?"

"No, sir." Rose answered through clenched teeth. "The United States Army does."

She couldn't stop that one from sneaking out. She was too busy fighting the urge to smack him.

"Oh, you are so smart…" Woods sneered. "Well, you're nothing but a goddamn nurse! You didn't spend 7 years getting a degree from the best medical school in the world!"

He all of the sudden seemed to go into an uncontrollable rant. Rose wondered if the entire hospital could hear him, or hoped they could.

"Did you even know what a school was before you got here? Well, I tell you what you missed…You're goddamn job is to give me the right instrument and give the patients something pretty to look at…"

That did it. Rose refused to stand there and let him insult her.

"For your goddamn information," Rose shrieked in such a rage, she was shaking. "I was a school teacher before this! And I graduated early from training with the highest scores in the history of the damn program!"

Woods bristled at Rose's onslaught and seemed to withdraw as if her words were a dangerous weapon in her hands.

"You…" he tried interjecting, but Rose was relentless.

"And it's my goddamn job to keep incompetent doctors like you from killing innocent soldiers like that boy in there. You are the worst doctor I have ever seen in my entire life and I will not stand here and let you insult my intelligence when you have absolutely none yourself!" The rage Rose felt for the man energized her body and she tore off her gown and slammed it onto the pile of the other bloody gowns. "How much money did daddy have to donate in order for you to actually get that degree, huh? Because there's no way in hell you got it on skill alone! You sure it was Harvard College you went to, and not the butcher shop in Harvard, Illinois!"

Suddenly, Woods lurched forward and wrapped his spindly fingers around Rose's wrist and gripped it excruciatingly tight. A tremor of fear coursed through Rose's body. She recognized that look in Woods face. It was the same look of blind fury her stepfather had just before he'd grab that leather strap he kept behind the kitchen door and beat her until her flesh ripped open. But Rose wouldn't let this sorry excuse for an officer, doctor and man get the best of her. Her blazing, brown eyes glared up at the jackass with every ounce of hatred and strength she had.

"Remove your hand, sir." she ordered forcefully.

"Or what?" Woods inquired with a deranged smirk on his narrow and unattractive face.

"You may be able to pull rank on me Captain," Rose said deathly calm voice that could have made Hitler balk. "But I have the gender card and a hell of a lot of burly MPs who won't hesitate to beat your scrawny ass the moment I scream."

Woods glared at her a few more seconds. She was right, he didn't want to admit it, but fear suddenly gripped what little bit of a heart he did have. He knew the Lieutenant was popular amongst the staff and the MP's were indeed very well qualified for their duties. He let go, but leaned in much too close towards Rose's face.

"This isn't over." he threatened, breathing heavily onto her cheeks and nose.

He was trying to scare her, but his melodramatic attempt to frighten her into submission did the opposite. An almost satanic smile formed on Rose's bow shaped lips.

"Well, at least you got one thing right." she leaned in and whispered dangerously, her eyes giving him a look that said 'I will eat you alive'.

Woods eyes grew in circumference and he took a breath in like he was about to speak again, but another doctor stepped through the curtain, making Woods jump back from the nurse. Rose crossed her arms over her chest and looked over at Major Fitch.

Rose liked the curly-haired Texan. He was a big, broad-shouldered man who wore thin, silver rimmed glasses over his soft, gentle eyes. Before the Army, he was a pediatrician, which fit him perfectly. The two often had long, in-depth chats about child development and shared stories about former students and patients. He was also the Executive Officer of their mobile medical unit.

The Major and Rose's eyes met and he immediately picked up on her discomfort, even though she didn't show it one bit.

"Martin…" he said to Woods in a seemingly pleasant and calm manner, but there was a commanding undertone as he removed his surgical mask. "They've got fresh, hot food down in the kitchen. Better get down there before it's all gone."

Woods pursed his lips and didn't move for several moments, almost like he didn't want to admit he was the one who needed to leave. The tension in the small, curtained off section of the room was so thick it was almost suffocating. Rose felt like she was in the middle of a hostage situation with an armed man. Would Woods stand down and leave, or would he go ballistic and lash out at the two officers. Rose's eyes flickered pack and forth between Woods and Fitch, who just stood there emotionless and as unmoving as a boulder. Finally, Woods nodded to Fitch.

"Yes, sir." he said, with a hint of malevolent sarcasm. "Thank you for letting me know, sir."

He acted as if Rose wasn't even there as he turned around and stomped out the door.

"Ya'all save some for me, ya hear!" Fitch called out after him.

Once Woods was gone, Rose couldn't stop a sigh of relief from escaping her lips as she tried kneading the dull, heavy ache of exhaustion out her eyes with her fingertips. Rose suddenly felt like there was some force weighing down on her weak and fatigued body. That little tryst with Woods had taken the rest of what little energy she had left. Perhaps it was the gravity of the situation she was in pressing down on her shoulders like she was carrying two bags of feed on them. Rose had enough stress in her life at the moment without adding this whole ordeal to that stress. Rose was probably facing charges of everything Woods could possibly think of.

"You alright there, Rosemary?" Fitch asked and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Rose's face shot up and met his kind eyes, realizing he saw right through the facade she was wearing. Rose hated appearing weak in front of other people, especially in front of her comrades and even more so in front of her superiors. Arnold Fitch was a very kind and comforting man, it came with the territory of pediatrics. But for some outlandish reason, Rose got it in her head that he would lose respect for her by appearing so feeble. Dick was the only person, besides her grandmother, who'd ever witnessed her resolve falter enough for tears in her adult life.

Rose looked at him for a few moments before she shot him a weak smile and nodded.

"I'm fine, sir." she assured him, trying to be convincing.

He didn't notice Rose unconsciously rubbing her sore wrist.

Fitch gave her arm a reassuring squeeze before he dropped his hand. He knew not to pursue the matter with the young and bright Lieutenant; she had too much dignity to admit if Woods had scared her. The respect Rose had for the man went both ways. Fitch liked her tenacity and spunk, as well as her common sense and composure.

The Major crossed his arms over his chest and he cocked his head side and smirked.

"You sure created quite stir in there, little lady."

Rose's jaw dropped and a look like her students used to get when they were caught red-handed doing something naughty found its way to her face. Rose hadn't realized the Major had been in there and witnessed her blatant example of insubordination.

"Sir, I…I can explain…the Captain…the patient had a severed…" Rose tried to speak, but her word only came out in jumbled phrases.

"What was it you called him?" Fitch suddenly interrupted with a wily smile on his face. "A horse-faced son-of-a-bitch?"

Rose's mouth snapped shut, realizing what he was doing. Woods wasn't very well like by anybody, including the Major. The concern she had about any impeding punishment lessened significantly. She tried to hide the bashful smile on her face by ducking her head down and gluing her eyes to her feet.

"I believe it was an arrogant, horse-faced, stringy son-of-a-bitch, sir." She corrected quietly.

"Ah," he smiled and snapped his fingers. "That's right. I'm gonna hafta write that one down."

Rose chuckled softly and lifted her eyes back up to meet Fitch's jolly, umber orbs. She took another calming breath and she finally seemed to be able to calm herself down enough to speak in coherent sentences.

"Sir, my actions in there were completely deplorable as an officer and I should be reprimanded, but…" Rose started off sounding formal with shoulders back as she was trained to as an officer, but then her voice softened like she was confiding in a friend. "He was just letting that boy die…and I couldn't stand there…"

The Major shook his head and held up his hand, silencing the Lieutenant. Rose didn't know it, but Fitch had been standing outside listening to everything that had been said between the Captain and the former school teacher. He had almost stepped in and stopped Woods from yelling at her, but when he heard Rose's voice cut in, he just stood there and listened with a smile on his face while the petite nurse tore into the man like a scrappy, little Terrier dog fighting off a varmint. When things went deathly silent, that's when Fitch got worried and stepped in.

"Darlin', you don't need to explain yourself." he said. "You did what you felt was right and I was damn proud of you. That boy ain't outta the woods yet, but you'd a been fixing him up with a toe tag if it hadn't a been for you takin' the bull by the horns and showin' tha' yeller-belled coward a thing or two"

Rose felt a lump rise in her throat and she had to hold back the urge to hug the sweet man's massive frame. Rose had been responsible for hundreds of soldiers getting a second chance at life, but it had been a long time since she'd been reminded how important and beautiful something like that was.

"Thank you, sir." She croaked, suddenly fighting the urge to cry.

Fitch gave her another encouraging smile before he turned away towards the sink to start scrubbing up so he could return to the OR.

"You go get yourself some sack time, Lieutenant." he ordered her, but in a caring, warm way. "You've had a long day."

"Yes, sir." Rose nodded.

Rose left the room and went out in the hallway. Soldiers with lesser wounds were lined up along the walls being treated. A private with a mop slopped up the blood from the floors. Even though the school was filled with hundreds of people, it was as silent as a tomb. No one talked and people walked like they would get yelled at if their steps made too much noise. It was almost unnerving just how quiet everything was. Not an hour ago, the whole building was full of shouting doctors and nurses and moaning infantry men.

Rose wanted nothing more than to heed Fitch's words and head right for her soft mattress with warm blankets, but there were just too many things for her to do. Instead of heading up the stairs to the dormitories, she veered left and headed for the Recovery Ward. As much as her tired feet and aching eyes protested, the Chief Nurse would never be able to do something as selfish as sleeping when the other nurses were still working on so many patients.

Just before Rose stepped into the overcrowded room, she happened to glance out one of the several large windows that lined the west wall of the hallway almost floor to ceiling. She paused, and crossed her arm loosely around her middle. The late afternoon sky was yet again heavy with thick clouds and only the dim, gray glow above the tree line in the distance made the time of day discernable.

Rose brought right hand up and she pressed it against the window, the frost covered pane burning her fingertips with its coldness. It was getting increasingly colder outside and even though Rose had been only been out of the school a few times, she'd returned nearly frozen every time. But whenever she held her hands next to the roaring fireplace, a pang of guilt rippled through her chest down to her stomach. She thought of all the poor souls stuck out in the frigid weather not allowed to even start a fire.

Suddenly, all of Rose's problems seemed so insignificant. Her feet were sore and probably swollen, but at least she didn't have trench foot. She was in a warm building with food that, even though wasn't very good, as at least in good supply, and Woods was now her mortal enemy, but he wasn't a German hiding behind a tree with a rifle and orders to shoot her dead.

Rose took her hand off the window and it fell against her collar bone. A sigh escaped her chest as she starred longingly out in the distance. Rose hadn't heard anymore news about Bastogne, but she'd been so busy maybe she'd missed it. Rose hated the heavy feeling in her heart. She now knew how all the wives felt back home, waiting in fear, watching the reports, wondering if their husband's were involved in the bloody battles they heard about, and if they were still alive.

But Rose wasn't married to the subject of all her distress. God forbid, but if something did happen to Dick, Rose would probably never know. But then again, maybe it was a good thing if she never found out his fate. He would forever be the dashing Captain from Paris with a soft touch and gentle eyes. The man who made her do and feel things she never thought herself capable of, and who's arms she fell asleep in after doing those things. Dick would always be in her heart and memory as perfect as he was. Rose refused to imagine him as just another dead, frozen soldier, lying face down in the snow.

Tears prickled Rose's coffee-colored eyes and she felt her throat painfully constrict, but she quickly pushed her feelings back down in the depths of her soul, where her love for Dick resided. She sniffed back her emotion induced runny nose and gave the rapidly darkening landscape one last look before she turned and headed into another long, grind of healing and comforting sad, wounded, men who, like Rose, only wanted to be with their loved ones.

* * *

Well, there you go. I'd love to tell you what's going to happen next, but what fun would that be? However, because I love you guys so much, I'll give you a little inside information…

Rose and Woods have some unfinished business to settle, obviously. Meanwhile in Bastogne, Dick continues to fight behind the lines to keep his men alive while under siege, and he discovers one of his men has a secret…a secret he can relate to.

Please review and honestly, don't be afraid to offer up some constructive criticism if you feel the need. If things aren't up to par, I want to know so I can make improvements. Thank you so much for reading!


	12. Chapter 12 We're Not in Paris Anymore

Hello, hello, hello! I cannot even begin to express how sorry I am about seemingly disappearing from the face of the earth for the last few months. I just can't believe it's the end of November already. This fall has flown by so fast. Believe me, I've been trying to work on this, but with school starting up again and getting settled into a new place, I've spent many nights staring at a blinking curser, trying to find what little creative energy I have left after writing papers and completing endless art assignments. Plus, it was really hard to write about frostbite and snow when it's 80 degrees in October…

Thankfully, the end the semester is near and I will have an entire free month to write to my heart's content. On a random and personal note, it was a year ago right now I saw Band of Brothers for the first time. I can't believe I've come this far with this story since I first got the idea. So here it is, enjoy and a Happy Thanksgiving!

* * *

Dick wished the wind would blow.

Just a little bit of a breeze every now and then…

Yes, it would make it colder…dear god, just the thought of that sharp air slicing through the many layers of wool and 'windproof' cotton covering his already shivering body made his bones ache. It would be downright miserable, more so than it already was, but he'd take the frigid wind over the eerie, unnerving disquiet of the frozen landscape. When the Kraut's weren't shelling the hell out of the them, there was nothing besides the occasional pop-pop-pop of a distant rifle, the ground rattling boom of a random shelling, or the intermittent hacky _whoop-ah_ of a trooper coughing up a lung, that kept his ears from hearing, or supposedly hearing, every little thing around him.

Every few seconds a twig snapped, or a dead leaf still clinging to a skeletal branch of a rare broad leaf sapling in the sea of evergreens was rattled by some invisible specter, or the sound of snow crunching beneath non-existent boots echoed off the tree trunks around his foxhole. It seemed those unnerving sounds, either real or materialized in an overactive imagination, met the soldier's hyper-sensitive ears every other minute.

_Click-crack-swish_

Dick stopped breathing and his heart even seemed to pause it's beating for a moment. His stiff, gloved fingers tightened around the cold, wood stock of the M1 cradled readily in his arms. Dick's green hued eyes calmly, but rapidly, searched the lifeless, dreary landscape for signs of a supposedly encroaching enemy, but nothing caught his immediate attention, even as he squinted harder into the distant fog looming lazily in and around the gray, snow-frosted trees. He swallowed the rising lump in his throat and his eyes flickered back to the right, to the left, over to that large clump of scrubby brush, and back to the right again, but still they detected nothing out of the ordinary.

Dick finally relinquished his futile search and sighed. He squeezed his eyes closed as if trying to reset his tumultuous thoughts and attempted to relax his painfully tense muscles. He pursed his colorless, chapped lips as he internally cursed his unfounded, stupid, and annoying paranoia. They'd finally seemed to have patched up the holes in their line for the time being. A Kraut would have to sneak by several OPs, a vast array of manned foxholes and Easy's CP before they made it to Dick's foxhole, so the fact that he was still jumpy infuriated him to no end. Searching for an enemy he knew wasn't there was about driving him insane. That's why he wanted the wind to blow. He needed something to account for his madness, a gust of skin burning wind, a flutter bird wings, hell, at this point, he'd even settle for another wayward, unarmed, German infantryman heeding nature's call.

Dick squeezed his eyes shut for a second and shook his head as if loosening the icicles from his cold, stiff mind. The Captain needed to ignore those ominous noises. He needed to stay sharp, stay focused on patrol orders, TO and E's, casualty reports, enemy movements-all the things that encompassed his battalion duties. Then again, it seemed when he wasn't being overly paranoid, his mind fogged over with thoughts of warm food, roaring fires and a brunette beauty named Rose…

All of a sudden, the sounds of crunching snow met his ears for real. Dick's senses went on high alert and once again his hands tightened around the familiar firearm that had become an extension of his body since his time in combat. His head whipped around to the direction of the obtruding sounds and his eyes focused on the approaching figure.

However, his body and mind relaxed as soon as he recognized that familiar gait of his best friend.

"Dick…" Lewis Nixon's raspy voice called out before being interrupted by a string of hacky coughs.

Dick shifted his rifle to the other arm as he watched his fellow officer settle down into his foxhole.

"You okay?" he asked as Lewis dug out his canteen from behind his back and took a sip to quell the minor attack.

Dick was tempted to inquire about the actual contents of that metal vessel, but he decided ignorance was bliss.

"Ah-hem!" Lewis let out an exaggerated final cough as he cleared his throat. "Yah…I'm fine...can't get rid of me that easily"

He took another sip of his canteen. That familiar, satisfied grimace crossed Lewis's face and confirmed Dick's suspicions. A tiny smile pulled at the corner of his lips and he eyed his friend for a moment before looking away, shaking his head. Dick had been wondering all week if his friend had been able to gather the essentials before pulling out of Mourmelon, he should have known better than to think otherwise. Nothing, including Hitler's surprise offensive, could keep Lewis Nixon from his beloved blended whiskey.

Dick stuffed his painfully numb hands further underneath his armpits where one would expect to find some form of warmth.

"What's up?" he asked before burrowing his chin down into the saving grace of his scarf.

Lewis's canteen scraped and rattled as his gloved fingers clumsily screwed the lid back on.

"You're not going to like it…" Lew's gravelly voice said as he reached around his back, returning his stash to its proper place. "They want some reconnaissance patrols sent out…" he continued, heading Dick's inquisitive stare. "find the German lines…see what they're up to…"

Lewis was right, Dick didn't like it. Those damned patrols, though necessary to their defense, cost more in supplies and casualties than they were worth. The men hardly had enough ammo to go around to each man, let alone be able to productively engage and fend off the enemy. Unfortunately, that was just the nature of the beast called war. Dick had every confidence in the men. They were tough and they were smart. He knew what they'd been through and how they worked together.

He only wished he could say the same thing about the people supposed to be leading those incredible men. Dog and Fox Companies seemed to be in good hands. Their commanders had their misgivings, but they were good, smart leaders for the most part. Unlike Dike, they weren't totally inexperienced and clueless. Easy's only officer with decent combat experience was Buck, however, there was something different about Lieutenant Compton.

Dick couldn't put his finger on it, but the man huddled in the foxhole a few hundred feet away wasn't the same man Dick put on an ambulance in Holland. The Captain saw it right away that night back in Mourmelon. Like Dick, Buck loved a good movie. It was a popular topic of conversation between the two officers. Buck seemed to know everything about the silver screen and loved analyzing and critiquing the, more often than not, dismal selections the Army offered. So when Buck didn't jump into an enthusiastic assessment of the plotline and the actors' portrayals of the various characters, Dick knew something was up, still, it he couldn't figure out what exactly.

With Buck being somewhat not entirely all there, Dick thanked god for First Sergeant Carwood Lipton. That man went far beyond his call of duty to lead and care for his men. As far as Dick was concerned, the sergeant was more qualified than half the officers in the battalion.

"Who do they want?" Dick asked with a croaky voice and wiped his runny nose on his sleeve.

"Everyone…whole battalion…" Lewis could see the fleeting look of discontent pass over the Captain's face. "First is still regrouping after their ass-kicking in Foy…third is going to be in your reserve, but they got the crap shelled out of them yesterday so don't count on much…"

Dick sighed, shaking his head. It wasn't like 2nd Battalion was in any better condition. Both Dog and Easy had gotten hit that morning and had a some casualties evacuated into what was left of the town. However, there was no use complaining about it, somebody had to do it. It was just the way things were.

Dick shifted and untangled his arms from his body so his could dig out his maps. His stiff fingers struggled to find and grasp the zipper of his jacket. In fact, his entire body could hardly move. Between the cold and sleeping in a cramped foxhole with his knees drawn up against his chest, he was stiffer than all get out. He felt like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz in need of a good oiling.

"Any word on the ammo situation…" Dick's voice suddenly became very hoarse. He tried to clear it with a cough. "Or should I have the men start making bows and arrows?" he said between coughs.

A hearty chuckle rumbled in Lewis's throat as he reached in his pocket for the sheet he'd scribbled Dick's patrol orders on. Dick had sure been firing off those wisecracks left and right, more so than normal. So many people couldn't understand how two seemingly opposite people could get along so well. What they didn't realize was that underneath the alcoholism, the stoic demeanor, the privileged lifestyle and the Mennonite background, Lewis and Dick were very much the same man. They understood one another and both shared many of the same ideals about war and leadership. Most importantly, they both had the same dry, sarcastic sense of humor. The two could sit around for hours and shoot the bull back and forth. Usually, Nix had the upper hand in clever remarks, but since his leave in Paris, Dick had been running laps around him.

"Yah, tell 'em to get their standard issue slingshots ready…" Lewis threw in as he clumsily unfolded the brittle scrap of paper.

Dick smiled, but inside he knew their situation was nothing to be joking about. Despite the fact they were gaining some ground around Bastogne, the German's hadn't backed off in even the slightest and it was only a matter of time before the boys would have to start using their rifles as clubs. Dick had given out his only full clip to Bull, telling him to disperse the measly eight rounds to his squad. They needed it more than Dick did. He kept one round in the chamber of his M-1 just so he could feel like he wasn't carrying it around for show. His pistol had a few rounds in it, but the leather of his holster was so stiff from the cold, he'd never be able to get it out quick enough if needed. However, the ability to defend themselves was the least of their problems. Dick was more concerned with the men dying of exposure. They couldn't start fires, they didn't have hardly any food, and many of the troopers had the beginnings of trench foot. If the Krauts didn't kill them, Mother Nature was going to.

"What about supplies?" Dick inquired, his voice thick and raspy with congestion.

Dick hoped he'd painted a grim enough picture for General McAuliffe the other morning, not that it took any embellishments. The truth of the matter was bleaker than anything a person could ever conjure up. The good general seemed to understand the ineloquent brief from a young, out-of-uniform, and under-ranked Battalion XO with lather icing up on his face. Dick thought he heard the roar of C-47s earlier that morning.

"Yah, in matter of fact I did hear something about supplies…" Lewis answered, pushing his helmet back to reveal the wily glimmer in his dark eyes.

Dick paused, his hand on the map he sought in the inside pocket of his jacket, and looked at Nix.

"And…" the Captain prodded.

"They made a successful drop this morning…" Lewis continued, but by the ominous and sarcastic tone in his voice, Dick knew the news wasn't going to be good. "too bad they were off by about five miles."

Dick shook his head and laid his fist full of folded papers up on the frozen edge of his hole. Of course something like that would happen. He quickly set back to work zipping his cloths back up before anymore of his hard-earned body heat escaped.

"Right now there's a whole division of Krauts learning the about the gastronomical wonders of Spam and beans…" said Lewis dryly.

Dick eyed him for a few seconds with a hint of a smile in the corner of his mouth. He could imagine the Krauts sitting around a foxhole with opened cardboard boxes of K-rations scattered about, them all wondering 'how the hell are these Americans fighting the war eating this garbage?'

When Dick was first introduced to the 'food' of a K-ration, he didn't believe such a tiny box could nourish a cat, let alone a grown man fighting a war. He, like many other ignorant souls, ate several helpings of the highly concentrated food after the first one he ingested just didn't seem to be enough. Just as the instructors had warned, Dick received the worst gut ache he had ever suffered in his entire life. After that, Dick never questioned what or how much of something the Army told him to put in his mouth, like those air sickness pills. He knew he didn't need them, but he took them anyway. So maybe dropping those supplies to the unbeknownst German's wouldn't be such a horrible logistical mistake.

Dick sighed and peered around the frosty landscape, his soldier sense checking to make sure there wasn't a company of German's flanking them, before he hauled his stiff and sore body up out of the his hole. He had to get up and get his limps moving and blood flowing before they snapped off like frozen hotdogs. Up from the protection of the frozen dirt, he got his wind he was looking for. It burned his skin like a slap in the face.

The trooper turned back to the man still hunkered down in his hole and lent him a hand. Lewis looked at up at the redheaded Captain for a second before grasping it.

"Where we goin'?" he asked as Dick hauled him up into a standing position.

"Easy's CP…you can brief Dike yourself." Dick slung his rifle over his shoulder with a hint of a sly smile and gathered his maps.

"Oh thanks…" Lewis grumbled sarcastically. "You mean if he's actually there…"

Dick couldn't help but chuckle. Lewis couldn't stand Dike, and unlike everyone else, he made no effort to hide his disdain for the man. As much as Lewis hated the hierarchy of rank, he sure loved pulling it on the Lieutenant. Dick thought it was kind of funny. Both men came from incredibly similar backgrounds and one would have thought the two would have gotten along famously, but they didn't, not by a long shot.

Dick stamped the numbness out of his feet and the two officers set out for Foxhole Norman's lair. According to Dick's watch, it was around noon, but the constant mist made the time of day hardly discernable.

"Goddamnit…" Lewis swore as the needle-like wind made his entire body jerk like it had hit a wall. "Yah know…never thought I'd miss those shot-to-hell tin cans they stuffed us in… " he blew into his frozen hands. "The damn planes were at least warm when they were on fire…"

Dick looked down at his frigid friend as he adjusted his thin scarf tighter around his neck and smirked. It seemed decades ago since their last jump in Holland. When Dick joined the paratroopers, the recruiters painted a very heroic, dramatic and unrealistic picture of what this elite unit really did. He imagined every other day they'd be flying in over the battlefields and relieve the battered and desperate infantry men in their most desperate hour of need. Dick and his men would float down and a sad soldier would lift his heavy helmet and feel his heart soar as those angle-like paratroopers landed gracefully on their feet, slung up their weapon and ran into battle. Never missing a beat, they'd save the day; just like in the movies. It didn't take long before the young, naive officer learned the truth about war. It wasn't glamorous and it sure as hell wasn't a movie.

Dick's eyes flickered up towards the cloudy sky, wondering if things would have been different if they would have parachuted in instead of tailgate jumping. Maybe they would have had more supplies with them because they would have been packed into every possible inch of their bodies. Then again, it would have made it the most comfortable and easy jump since his first training jump back in Toccoa. That one had been fun because he didn't have more equipment strapped to his body then what he weighed. He really did enjoy jumping because was exciting and absolutely terrifying all at the same time. His favorite thing about it was the airplane ride. Someday he'd like to ride in one without having to jump out of it, or it being shot up by flak.

The Pennsylvanian's ears stained as they blocked out the crunching of the snow beneath his and Lewis's feet and listened for any possible hum of a distant C-47. Thinking about jumping made him think about heights, thinking about heights made him think of high things. One tall structure in particular popped in his head. A warm smile settled onto his lips as fond memory clouded over his eyes…

_Dick gazed out on the surrounding city from the top level of the Eifel Tower. He remembered the first time he saw the iconic structure in a movie. It was so majestic and foreign looking, something everyone could recognize, but only a small portion would actually see with their own eyes. Dick never imagined he'd be one of those people. _

_He leaned into the rail and looked down tiny people milling about in the streets below like ants at a person's feet. A tiny trickle of hate and anger pulsed inside him as he imagine Hitler walking down those very same streets. However, he quickly swallowed that anger, realizing that the fact he, an American soldier on furlough, was standing there enjoying the delights of Paris. Surely that was a testament to the Allie's progress thus far. _

_Dick tried to lean further out so he could see better, but the bars where doing their job and prevented him from doing so. Dick had felt comfortable being so far away from the solid ground his entire life. When he was three years old, his mother caught him climbing up his grandfather's windmill. He made it more than half way up before his father managed to catch him and bring him down. Dick couldn't recall the event, but his father said the little strawberry-blonde boy had a grin on his face the entire time. That is until his mother got a hold of him. _

_However, no spanking could deter the determined and precocious Richard Winters. When he got in trouble before his teenage years, it was usually because his feet weren't on the ground. It was no surprise to his family when he took a job painting radio towers in college. It didn't exactly have the best working conditions, but it paid better than mowing lawns and bagging groceries. When Dick thought about it, parachuting out of an airplane and landing behind enemy lines was probably safer than dangling off those slippery, metal towers with a bucket of paint hanging on his foot and a ratty, frayed rope loosely tied around his waist. Dick had taken a couple of missteps that turned into a few, very close calls. Still, despite his close to disastrous experiments with gravity, he felt right at home in thinner air._

_The Captain turned from the edge and looked over towards his touring partner. He smiled as he witnessed an Army nurse he was very, very acquainted with cautiously peak over the edge, before she cringed and quickly turned away from the incredible view._

_Rose squeezed her eyes shut and took a shaky, not-really-all-that-calming breath and tried to make herself forget the jelly-like feeling in her knees. She didn't see the man, she was pretending not to be having less than respectable relations with, walk over and stand next to her._

"_Don't like heights, Lieutenant?" he teased._

_Rose's eyes opened at the sound of his voice and they shot over to Dick before rolling in jealous annoyance. He was coolly leaning against the railing as if it where spit rail fence along a dirt road, and not like it was several stories up in the sky. Dick also had a small, knowing smirk on his lips and she could see the mocking glimmer in his eyes._

"_No, Captain…" she said as she turned her back away from the rail and looked across the platform, though that didn't offer any more of a comforting visage than the other side. "I can't say I'm too fond of them."_

_Rose could feel the butterflies twist and jumble in her stomach and her heart race, however, she couldn't blame them that time on the handsome, sharp-dressed paratrooper standing a respectable distance from her. Rose didn't know why she was afraid of heights. They messed with her equilibrium and anything more than a few stories gave her vertigo._

_Dick turned his head and looked back over the city. _

"_Oh, this is nothing…" He casually shrugged a shoulder, his sly smirk subtly growing, making his eyes sparkle merrily._

_Rose looked at him, only turning her head far enough for her eyes to see him and not the edge that she was surely going to plunge to her death over, and gave him a nasty glare. Rose had two older brothers, she knew when she was being made fun of._

"_Not everyone lists 'jumping deliberately and willingly out of an airplane' on their resume, sir." she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest._

_Dick chuckled and flashed her a toothy smile as he straightened up his body so his comfortable posture wasn't perhaps so offending towards the uneasy Lieutenant. He took a few steps closer, not only unable to resist the urge to protect, but to continue to playfully pester Rose. _

"_Jumping's the easy part…" he said with a mischievous tone in his husky voice as his hands settled on the iron rail. "it's the landing that'll get yah…"_

_Rose narrowed her eyes and her lips formed into an annoyed pout. The Captain continued to calmly gaze out on to the landscape, but she could see that sparkle in his eyes. He was still laughing at her inside. The determined, rebellious young girl Rose had not known for years started to bubble up inside of her. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew against her body making wisps of hair flutter about her face and her knee caps quiver. Despite the fear frenziedly surging around inside her body, Rose couldn't back down from the challenge those blue-green were giving her. _

_Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath before forcing herself to do an about-face and join Dick at the rail. Dick turned his head when he noticed her presence, but he didn't say a word. Rose's knuckles were deathly white clutched as she tightly gripped the rail. He could hear her irregular breathing and see out of the corner of his eye her flared nostrils and set jaw as she faced her fears._

_Damn, Dick thought. Every minute that he spent with this woman, she managed to amaze and impress him even more. Suddenly, a jolt of excitement and anticipation shot through his chest. They still had one more night together. He wished for a moment that the day would hurry up and get over with so he could take her back to the hotel, but he quickly scolded himself for his lustful thoughts. They didn't have much time left together, so he better treasure every single second and not hurry it along._

_Dick turned around and looked about the tower platform. It wasn't as crowded anymore and the people that were around where busy gawking at the view and had their backs to the surreptitious lovers. Dick sneakily inched closer to the woman he was yearning for. Still internally fighting her demons, Rose didn't notice his covert movements until she felt a warm, calloused hand slide over her tightly clenched one. Rose snapped out of her self-imposed trance. She looked down at his hand that softly stroked the back of hers with his thumb. Her first reaction was to pull it away in fear of being seen, but one look in his eyes vanquished any of those worries. She knew he wouldn't do something so obvious unless it was safe, she trusted Dick._

_A different type of butterflies, the good kind, started fluttering in her stomach as she loosed her vice-like grip on the rail and allowed him to intertwine his fingers in hers. Dick smiled as he looked into her beautiful face and watched her worrisome appearance slowly fade into that of contentment. _

"Jesus, Dick!" Lewis Nixon's voice brought the Captain back to the cold, harsh reality.

Dick shook the pleasant cobwebs of Paris out of his head and looked down to see Lewis's gloved hand grasping the sleeve of his fatigue jacket. They'd walked nearly fifty yards from Dick's foxhole, but the XO didn't recall a single second of the journey.

"I just saved you life…" Lewis declared and let go of Dick's arm. "You almost ran into that tree…"

"Oh…" Dick looked at the perpetrating evergreen next to him and pursed his lips. "I uh…I guess I wasn't paying attention…" His voice trailed off and he nervously scratched the corner of his eye as he looked around the area, hoping nobody had see his near calamity.

Lewis gave the man a funny look from under his dark, thick eyebrows and nodded. That strange and unexplainable feeling he'd had in the back of his mind since Dick had returned seemed to quiver. Under different circumstances, he would have interrogated his friend further, but Lewis just chalked Dick's inattentiveness up to the stresses of the siege. Hell, it would have been strange not to be preoccupied in this hell.

He gave the still flummoxed looking Captain another glance before turning back to their surroundings and the infinite maze of foxholes and trees around them. They had a busy day ahead of them and there'd be time to mock Dick's clumsiness later.

"Where the hell is Dike's hole anyway..."


	13. Chapter 13 No Rest for the Weary

"That is right boys, you will fail. Give up, go home, go back to you family and embrace the mighty greatness that is the Nazi empire…" a silky, seductive voice of a female with a German accent said over the rosewood veneered radio that someone had found in the school somewhere.

A small group of women congregated around the small box. Some were sitting on the floor, a few perched themselves on the various couches and ottomans that surrounded the blazing fire place in the commons room of the dormitory. They all had the same appearance; all looked hollow, lifeless, and ready to fall asleep at any moment.

The sultry fraulein went on to talk about how the Allied commanders were abandoning them and that the Jews were ruining the world.

"Dorothy, will you turn that nonsense off." Rita, a short, husky butcher's daughter from the Bronx, ordered the nurse closest to the box.

Dorothy Miller, a petite woman with mousey brown, curly hair and big, blue eyes pushed her thin, silver glasses back up her long nose and shot the short, squat nurse a look.

"Aw, come on Rita, the tunes should be coming on soon." She whined.

"You're wasting the batteries." Rita stated matter-of-factly.

"What's the point of having the gosh-darn thing if we never get to use it?" another nurse piped up.

The group of females went on to argue about the status of the power switch for several minutes, the snarky comments getting quite heated at times. The trivial argument was just yet another typical occurrence in an over-worked, overly-tired, and over-stressed group of women. Whenever their current situation was stressful, they always resorted to petty squabbles and pointless bickering over the most insignificant problems. It seemed as though the females were looking for any excuse to relive their pent up stress by snapping at each other and disputing every little decision.

The great debate of the radio had been reduced to insulting one another's taste in music and amount of peroxide used on their roots. The superior officer in the room probably should have intervened before the nails came out, but she was tucked under a warm, wool blanket on a cushioned window seat, staring blankly out onto the snow blanketed city, her mind hundreds of miles away.

The previous day had been another grueling, nineteen hour grind and it was really the first significant break Rose had taken since arriving to Verviers. There hadn't been as many wounded brought in, but now there was more patients tucked away in every corner of the school, filling the hospital far beyond their capacity. It took twice as long to get around to every patient and by the time everyone had been fed, given morphine, IV's changed, charts checked, and offered a bit comforting, it was time to start all over again.

As far as anyone knew, the Germans were still pushing west like an armored tidal wave, destroying everyone in its path. With every hour that went by, Rose swore the shelling got closer and closer. Another indication of how close the Krauts were getting were the wounded men themselves. The worse the injuries and the more that had those severe injuries meant the closer the line. Those with spurting arteries and head traumas would never had survived that long if the line wasn't so close. Even Rose was starting to get a bit nervous. There was no conceivable way they could pack up and skedaddle out of there fast enough if the Germans suddenly surged forward. She was always on her toes and prohibited the nurses from unpacking any of their personal item. Anything they used, went right back in their packs. As tempting as it was to fill the carved oak bureaus with their clothes and place their hair brushes on the vanity, Rose wanted them to be able to grab one thing and go in case of an evacuation.

However, news that Patton had turned his tanks around and were heading north had made its way to Rose's ears. She prayed to God the good general would make it to Bastogne in time before the tidal wave overtook the island of paratroopers. Knowing that reinforcements were on their way helped everyone's moral a little bit, but they couldn't stand around waiting for help. There was so much to do and there were only so many people and time to do it all in.

However, Rose could handle the stress of an encroaching enemy. What she couldn't handle were all the looks, whispers and uneasy tension floating around the premises since the incident in the OR. It never ceased to amaze Rose just how fast stories could travel and be embellished in the matter of a day. They spread faster than the chickenpox in a one room school house. Every breathing creature right down to the mouse scuttling around the base boards knew about her little confrontation with Captain Woods. According to the latest account, she'd performed open heart surgery on a Colonel after knocking Woods over the head with a gas tank.

Corporal Flint had taken to calling her Nurse Ballbuster and the other surgeons seemed to be extra diligent and overly cautious while she was around, as if she was the Surgeon General looking over their shoulder. Some people offered their praises to Rose for her valor and quick thinking, which the Lieutenant took with a shy smile and a weak nod of a thank you, but most just avoided her all together. Quite frankly, Rose preferred the latter. She hadn't done what she'd done for the attention; she'd done it for that poor boy's life, which was still hardly hanging on by a thread. However, people repelling away from her like the opposite end of a magnet was starting to get old.

Fortunately, the Lieutenant hadn't had any further encounters with her favorite physician. She'd noticed him once from afar in the hallway outside of the supply room, but if he'd seen her as well, he didn't show it, and Rose was thankful for that. She had a feeling that Fitch had found a way to keep the now enemies as least likely to bump into one another as possible. Woods hadn't stepped foot in the OR all day.

Captain Narverson had yet to even acknowledge that anything had happened the other day. In fact, she seemed to be avoiding Rose as much as humanly possible as well; but that was the way June was. She avoided sticky situations like the plague. She hardly ever took a side on anything because of fear of being disliked by the opposing party. A sworn bipartisan, if she were a country she'd be Switzerland. On the other hand, Mildred wasn't afraid to look at Rose with smug, knowing smile, like she knew something about Rose's impending doom. Maybe Rose was going to be transferred out of the unit, demoted to cleaning bed pans at some measly, rat hole of a hospital for the rest of the war. Lt. Clarke would have liked nothing more than to get rid of Rose, and perhaps she just might get her wish. Rose was surprised the woman hadn't taken her punishment into her own hands already.

The school teacher let out a long, weary sigh and let her head fall back against the ornately carved wood work behind her. She was so tired, and yet it was only the second, or was it the third, day of this fiasco. It was so unlike her to be burned out already. Back in Normandy, Rose had gone two straight weeks of nonstop work in conditions far from as comfortable as their current one and she never felt as exhausted as this. But then again, that was a long time ago and so much had happened since then. Maybe she was getting old. Maybe she'd lost her enthusiasm she had back then. Maybe she was just plain wearing out; simple as that.

The flickering firelight danced on her features, bringing out the golden hues of her neglected and hasty pulled back hair. Rose's vision grew blurry and soon her eyes fluttered shut. The blissful heaviness of sleep weighed down on her soul. She snuggled deeper within her warm cocoon and welcomed the eminent slumber and it didn't take long for a familiar place to fill her dreams…

"_Dick, did you want to go find something for dinner?" Rose called softly from the bathroom._

_Rose combed a few stray strands of hair back into their place in her neatly done chignon in front of the mirror. Annie had been trying to convince her for months to cut her brown locks so she didn't have to bother with putting them up all the time, but Rose's hair wasn't curly like Annie's and she certainly didn't have time to fool around with curlers. That's was her excuse, but it was really because when she was a little girl, her grandmother always cut her hair short because it was always tangled and Rose wouldn't let anyone brush out the painful mess. When Rose finally grew out of her total, wild, tomboy stage, she grew out her hair and ever since then had been protective of its length. Rose would continue to pin it up, no matter what the fashion was._

"_Dick?" she asked again when no answer came from the other room._

_She gave herself a tiny, harmless narcissistic smile in the mirror before she headed out in to the bedroom._

"_I mean, as good as that hotdog was, I wouldn't mind something a bit more sophisticated." She lightheartedly stated as she stepped out into the bedroom. Her eyes were focus down on the waist band as she smoothed the wrinkles of her blouse back underneath her wool skirt with her fingers. "We are in Paris aft…" her words were immediately stifled when she looked up._

_He had dozed off..._

_Rose covered her mouth with the palm of her hand to hold a laugh that wanted desperately to escape her throat. No wonder he hadn't answered her. Her hand moved to the side of her face and she wrapped her other arm around herself as she smiled warmly down on the napping soldier. _

_She really couldn't blame him; they'd had a long day walking around the city with little sleep the night before. It was late in the afternoon and the December sun was hanging just above the horizon of cityscape, making dark, languid shadows spread throughout the city and into the room. The two tourists had parted ways around the corner from the hotel, but not before Rose slipped him her spare room key. Dick later returned and entered Rose's room as if it were his, raising no suspicions to the two Marines down the hall. The two shared a brief, but very tender, greeting before Rose retreated to the bathroom. She hadn't been in there long, but apparently he'd made himself right at home in that time._

_The paratrooper was lying on the side bed with his long legs crossed at his ankles. He'd removed his meticulously polished jump boots and placed them squarely on the floor beneath the bed just like he'd been trained in OCS. His shoulders were propped up against a pile of pillows and his head tilted to the side ever so slightly as it rested against the wooden headboard. His face looked so soft and unperturbed with his eyelids gently resting over those blue-green eyes and his lips relaxed and parted in slumber. His weathered face was free of all his worries and fears of everything, making him appear years younger, making him appear his actual age. _

_He looked so peaceful, it made Rose forget that he was in charge of getting hundreds of young men back home to their families, that he been inches from death nearly every day since June, and that he'd killed people. She was seeing the Dick Winters before a rank preceded his name. _

_He'd apparently learned his lesson from the previous night. His jacket and blouse were hung neatly on a hanger in the wardrobe. Dick's right hand laid across his white t-shirt clad chest and between his hand and the white cotton was a forgotten newspaper. It looked as though he'd fallen asleep mid-sentence. A fond, but slightly sad, smile softened her face. The sight reminded her of her family and place called home; a place so far away in both distance and time. _

_The amazing ability to fall asleep at a moment's notice seemed to be a Beyer family trait, a trait that only seemed to affect the male members. In fact, when Rose thought about it, the married ones seemed to be the most afflicted. If Rose's grandfather or older brother sat in any sort of cushioned seat with the intention to read the new farm journal cover to cover with a fresh cup of steaming coffee within an arm's reach, they'd be dead to the world with the literature sliding to the floor in less than five minutes._

_Rose's stocking encased feet silently crept across the hardwood floor closer to his sleeping form. She didn't want to disturb him, but she couldn't resist the urge to be closer to his body. She just stood there next to the bed, somewhat hovering over him at the bedside. With every second she watched his strong, immaculately toned chest rise and fall, the faster her heart pumped heated blood through her veins. Knowing her legs were going to give out on her anyway, Rose gently eased her bottom on to the edge of the soft bed. It shifted slightly under her weight. She half expected him to open those soft blue eyes of his, but her movement didn't seem to disturb Dick's siesta. _

_Rose sat there completely still and studied every single detail of Dick's noble face. Every faded freckle on his fair skin, the bump on his cheek bone near is his ear, the way the five o'clock shadow framed his mouth, his strawberry blonde eyelashes resting on his cheeks, and the strand of hair that had fallen out of place and curled against his relaxed forehead. She admired the shape of his chin and the crease in his lower lip, her heart fluttering as she recalled how those lips felt against hers. She leaned in a little bit closer, placing her hand on the other side of him next to his hip to prop herself up. Rose could see the various imperfections of his face, the small scars and faint lines around his eyes and mouth. Some were newer than others. Every one of them told a story and they made him look experienced and rugged. _

_Her eyes narrowed as she intently studied the bump on the side of his nose. She'd noticed it before, but hadn't realized just how crooked his entire nose was. When the light from the glowing lamp hit his face just right, it was quite obvious that it had been broken some time in his past. The nurse in Rose couldn't resist the urge to reach up and examine it. She brought up her free hand to his still face._

"_Didn't they teach you anything about stealth in Basic?" his deep, rumbling voice suddenly said softly, startling Rose and making her pull her hand back like a child who'd been caught about to touch a priceless antique in a museum._

_Dick's eyes slowly opened and captured hers in their intoxicating gaze. Dick breathed in a deep, satisfied sigh and smiled a leisurely, warm smile up towards the inquisitive, guilty looking woman above him. Rose closed his eyes for a second to collect herself and when she opened them, she tried to shoot him a scolding glare for scaring her like that, but she couldn't hide the smile on her lips no matter how much she twisted them down in a frown. Dick chuckled again at the funny face he assumed was an attempt to give him a dirty look. He shifted his hips over so she could sit more solidly on the side of the bed._

"_Didn't they teach you to be alert at all times?" Rose shot back._

_Dick softly snorted and smiled as he stretched his limps, causing the paper filled with American headlines about various celebrities, sports scores, a vague military reports to flutter to the side of the bed. Rose soon discovered his stretch had ulterior movements as his hand slipped over her leg and rested on her outer thigh. _

"_I knew where you were the entire time." He told her smugly as he closed his eyes and settled his head back against the pillows, wiggling his shoulders deeper in to the soft down._

_Rose smiled and rolled her eyes. _

"_That so?" she cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. _

"_Yup." He replied without opening his eyes._

_Rose knew he hadn't heard a single word she'd said. She thought about thoroughly ridiculing Captain Attentive, but she decided she'd let it slide. Rose pushed her lower half up from the bed and climbed over the top of him to his other side. Dick opened his eyes and lifted his arm so she could settle herself in and wrapped it around the nurse's shoulders._

"_Anything interesting in that?" she motioned to the newspaper still precariously balancing on the edge of the bed with a nod._

"_Nope…" he answered as his held it up and scanned it with impassive eyes and sighed. "did put me to sleep after all."_

_He put the paper down on the floor before he turned his head and smiled down in to Rose's soft face. Her long eyelashes framed her glowing eyes as she returned the smile. He leaned down and nuzzled against her hair before placing a soft kiss against her temple. With Rose's warm body cuddled comfortably against his, it was now twice as hard to resist the heaviness of his eye lids. The Captain gave in and nestled his head back against the pillow._

_Rose could feel herself being pulled into the same sleepy, bliss, but, unlike her partner in crime, she wasn't ready to surrender to it. Once again, the nurse found herself studying his crooked nose. It didn't look quite as apparent from her current point of view, but she could still see the slight rise of healed cartilage. _

"_Dick?" she said his name with a soft, inquisitive tone._

"_Hmmm?" he replied with a rumble in his chest._

"_How did you break your nose?"_

_Dick opened his and turned his head towards her with a brow raised and stared down at her for a few moments._

"_I mean…" Rose tried to justify her random question. "I just noticed it...well, it when I looked at it close…it's not that bad…" She backtracked, fearing that he may be self-conscience about his misshapen feature._

_However, he only looked at her bashful face for a moment with a bemused smile. Rose just shrugged innocently, making him chuckle. He knew she couldn't help her curiosity. It was a valid question after all. A question he'd been asked by more than a few people. He told them he'd broken it playing basketball in high school, but that was a fib, an innocent white lie that hid his comrades from the less than honorable truth, which the Captain was honestly quite embarrassed of. He opened his mouth, posed to repeat his fabricated story he'd perfected telling with a straight face…however, something stopped him. He looked at the woman resting on his shoulder and pressed his lips together. It didn't feel right lying to her._

"_Well…" Dick softy grunted as he repositioned his body so he could look at her without having to crane his neck._

"_You didn't step on a rake, did you?" Rose teased as she leaned up and propped her head up on her elbow._

_Dick smiled and rolled his eyes a little._

"_The first time, I…" he began to say, but Rose interrupted yet again._

"_The first time?" she repeated with a mocking look of disbelief._

_He raised a brow and gave her a look, and then bobbed his head as if to say 'yah, I know, are you going to let me finish'. Rose smirked bashfully and pressed her lips tightly together, making an unsaid promise to keep them shut. Dick gazed at her for a few seconds, marveling how beautiful she looked in the soft warm glow of the lamp, and then continued._

"_Yes, the first time, I…I couldn't tell you how it happened even if I wanted to..." he told her with a sheepish grimace. He continued, prompted by Rose's quirked brow and confused eyes. "I was 16 years old and I, uh…" he cleared his throat and looked shamefully to the side. "got rip roaring drunk for the first time…and, uh, the only thing I remember is being dumped off at my parent's home holding my blood soaked shirt under my nose…."_

_Rose tried not to laugh as her jaw nearly popped out of its socket. She was expecting him to say he'd been kicked by a horse or got smacked in the face with a 2x4 on accident, something innocent and incredibly clumsy, but nothing to that degree. Nonetheless, she wasn't totally surprised. As the younger sister of two former hell raisers, Rose was no stranger to dealing with drunken teenage boys. She distinctly remembered walking out to the barn one chilly, fall morning to find both her brothers passed out in between the milk cows after a wild night at the Dover Dance Hall. Henry was sporting a fresh, steaming cow pie on his pants just above his ankles to go along with his split lip and Carlyle's black-eye turned into a lovely shiner by the next day._

"_My, not what I expected…bet you parents were darn proud…" she said with a bemused look on her face._

_Dick gave her an uneasy chuckle. "Oh yah, my mother especially…but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be…" he shrugged and squinted. "My father told me if I wanted to drink, I had to drink at home…"_

_Rose nodded, seemed like a reasonable solution. Pa shared the same ideology. He didn't mind the boys having a good time, it was the whole point of being a young and free. He always said it was best to get out the wildness before you had bills to pay and a wife to answer too. Karl just didn't like the boys being out all hours of the night, doing god knows what stupid and dangerous things. He had a strict curfew that the boys had to follow, and they did so for the most part._

"_I agreed to his conditions and…the next weekend he, uh…" Dick's Adam's apple bobbed up and down as a more intense look of shame clouded his eyes that wouldn't meet her gaze. "…well, sat there and watched me get three sheets to the wind on my neighbor's homemade wine…"_

_Rose was taken aback, her brow furrowing skeptically. He was pulling her leg now._

"_Really…" Rose questioned with an unconvinced look pinching her face to the side._

"_Oh yah," Dick nodded and exclaimed. "I couldn't believe it either. He and my uncle let my polish off four bottles of the stuff before I passed out on the porch." _

_Rose just knew there had to be a downside coming soon by the ominous undertone of Dick's voice. _

"_The, uh, next morning he woke me up at four, drove me out to my grandfather's farm and I proceeded to spend the hottest, muggiest day of the decade in a dusty field helping thresh oats…well, when I wasn't doubled over retching those four bottles up…lemme tell you, that stuff doesn't come up as easily as it goes down" he cringed, his stomach aching at just the memory of that horrible day._

"_My…" Rose softly, and slightly sarcastically, exclaimed with a chuckle. "I 'spose that would sour a man's stomach towards the stuff…"_

_Despite being from Wisconsin, Rose hardly ever drank. She hated the out of control feeling and wasn't a fan of hangovers. But the biggest reason she hardly drank was because of her stepfather and what his love of that narcotic took away from she and her brothers. _

"_Yah, well…just promise not to tell my men, got 'em all convinced I'm an innocent Quaker" he shot her a cunning smirk "…wouldn't want to ruin my reputation."_

_Rose chuckled and laid her head back down on his shoulder. Yes, wouldn't want his men to think their upstanding, saint-like commander would do something as inconceivable as being stupid drunk and come home with a broken nose he couldn't account for. Dick let his hand slide down from Rose's shoulder and let it rest on the curve of her hip. Or for that matter, know he had an illicit affair with nurse he'd met less than 24 hours ago on a street corner in Paris._

"_So what about the second time?" she asked as she drew circles on his chest with her fingertips. _

_Dick was too mesmerized by her delicate strokes that it took him a few extra seconds to realize she had asked him a question._

"_What?" Rose craned her neck up and looked in his face when he didn't answer. "Did you crash running moonshine or something?"_

"_No, not quite that exciting…" Dick shook his head and smiled. "I, uh…I got smacked in the face by a tree branch mowing a lawn."_

_Rose had to study his eyes for a few extra seconds before she believed him, but there was no lie in them._

"_Yah, I think you should make something up for that one..." she commented sarcastically as she laid her head back down._

_Dick closed his eyes and smirked and nuzzled her hair again. Suddenly, Dick wasn't tired anymore. As if sensing the sudden rise in his body temperature, or the change in his breathing, Rose lifted her head and locked eyes with him. An uncontrollable force, the same one that got them into trouble the night before, started to take over the two officers' bodies. Rose felt Dick's fingers tighten against the material of her skirt over her hip, pulling it up her leg ever so slightly. It wasn't even on purpose, and yet that little movement set her skin on fire and made every muscle in her body tingle in anticipation. As if her lips where a magnet, Dick suddenly dipped his head and captured hers, muffling Rose's moan. _

_Her hand slid across his chest and grasped the back of his head as they clumsily entangled their limbs around each other's bodies. Dick rolled over top of her and deepened his kiss as Rose arched her body against his. His fingers reached down to the front of her blouse and started popping open the acrylic buttons._

"_Dick…" she whispered against his cotton clad shoulders and he trailed kisses down her neck and she felt his knee gently nudge her inner thigh._

"Chief…" a soft female's voice suddenly interrupted Rose's blissful dream.

A hand gently shook her shoulder and Rose violently jolted awake, starling the owner of that hand. The First Lieutenant's eyes, still fuzzy with sleep, searched the dim room for her red-haired lover, but instead they settled on a Dorothy Miller holding her thin, long fingered hand against her chest.

"Chief, I'm sorry…" she exclaimed breathlessly.

Rose closed her eyes and let a shaky sigh sink her shoulders and calm her racing heart. She checked her watch and realized it was time for their shift down in post-op anyway.

"No Dorothy…" Rose tried rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, as well as to hide the blush in her cheeks from having such a provocative, vivid dream. "Don't be sorry…"

The tall, spindly woman pushed her glasses back up her nose and watched her superior untangle herself from her blankets and stand up. Rose looked around the empty room and frowned.

"Is everyone gone already?" she asked, wincing as she stuffed her sore, swollen feet back into the confines of her boots. She liked to get to the post-op before the rest of her nurses and handle all the little details of a shift change. It wasn't incredibly important, but Rose felt it was something she needed to do as a Chief Nurse.

"Yes ma'am…" Dorothy replied. "Lieutenant Clarke came and told the rest of us to report down to the music room…they sent me back up to get you"

Rose paused and looked up at the nurse, but ducked her eyes back down before Dorothy saw the irritated glare in them. The music room was where they did briefings and any other important business that needed the personal's full attention for, and which meant Rose could have been missing something important. Rose mouthed some choice words to herself with tight lips. Why the hell hadn't anyone woken her earlier? Mildred had probably saw her sleeping there and took it as a perfect opportunity to hijack her platoon of nurses and make Rose look incompetent. Rose just shook her head. As if there weren't enough thorns in her side already. She finished lacing her boots and grabbed her helmet that laid on the floor and tucked it under her arm. It was always close by incase she needed to run outside for any reason.

"Well," she nodded, looking up at the tall nurse. "let's go…"

Dorothy diligently followed the Chief Nurse out the door of the commons and into the hallway, Dorothy's long legs easily keeping up to Rose's hurried strides. They descended the large, wooden staircase and rushed past the maze of walking wounded meandering about the place to the large, ornate doors of the music room. Rose poised her hand over the door knob, planning to quietly sneak in, but it suddenly, the door flew opened. Both Rose and Dorothy jumped back in surprise as a flood of chatty females came out the double doors.

Rose saw Annie in the mob and she reached out and snagged her friend.

"Rose?" Annie exclaimed in surprise. "Where were you?"

"I was sleeping…apparently someone didn't feel the need to wake me" she answered, looking sideway for a moment with a set jaw. "What was this all about?"

Rose motioned her free hand to the emptying room and Annie just shrugged.

"Just a briefing…Monty's managed trip up the German's a little bit, so we might be able to stick around here a little longer…"

Rose felt a tiny ounce of anxiety flake off her soul. Even though she knew it was probably only temporary, knowing they were in a little less danger did lighten one's heart a little.

"That's good news" she softly exclaimed hopefully, however, it didn't last long. "…what's the bad?"

She'd been in the military long enough to know good news never went anywhere without it's evil twin.

Annie sighed and cringed a little bit.

"They're having trouble with the supply lines. We'll be sewing the boys up with shoe strings if they don't get here in the next few days…"

Rose solemnly nodded and chewed her bottom lip. Things definitely were getting tight. She'd been in the supply room earlier that morning and there wasn't a sight more sickening for a medical officer than near empty crates and shelves. Rose's brown eyes skirted around for a second before looking up at Annie.

"Any other news…" she asked quietly.

The worry in Rose's eyes made Annie's heart grow heavy with pity for her friend. She knew exactly what sort of news Rose was searching for.

"No news is good news Rose…" she replied with an apologetic, but reassuring, smile.

Rose snapped her mouth closed and looked away. Annie apparently knew Rose better than she herself did. Rose wished they'd hear at least something new, but Annie was right. Bad news always spread faster than the good stuff. If Bastogne had been overtaken, they would have known by now. Rose rubbed the side of her face and peered into the music room, seeing Captain Naverson gathering up her things and preparing to leave.

"Annie, will you handle the shift change? I'll be there as soon as I can." She requested, then lowered her voice. "Check on Private Butler right away, please…"

Annie smiled warmly and reached out and patted Rose's arm. Rose had hardly gone two hours without walking over to that blue-eyed boy's cot. His name was Robert Butler from Mooresville, North Carolina and he was 21 years old. He had yet to remain conscious for more than a few minutes at a time and his blood pressure still remained dangerously low. Annie prayed that all the boys they treated made it, but she really, really hoped this one would. Rose needed him to make it, she needed something positive to come out of all this.

"Of course, Rose…"

Rose nodded thanks to the blond nurse and stepped into the music room. It was full of chairs of different sizes lined up in rows and lyres that had been pushed against the walls. Beautiful, polished violins and cellos stood in stands and a shiny, black piano, that'd had every little ditty an American might possibly know had been played on it, was shut up for the time being. Rose walked up to June and Mildred, who was standing beside the Captain and looking like she was doing something.

"Ah, Lieutenant Beyer." June acknowledged pleasantly as Rose came to a stop before them. "We missed you."

June Naverson looked like a fair-skinned version of Katharine Hepburn with her strong chin, high cheek bones, and blonde eyelashes. However, her personality was far from Kate's tough, steely attitude.

"I apologize ma'am. I was resting and was not informed of this briefing." She managed to keep her eyes on June, but the condescending tone in her voice was too hard to suppress.

It was a good thing she did too, because she didn't see Mildred's sadistic, little smirk.

"Well, I'm sure you needed the extra rest." June smiled sweetly with a clasped her delicate hands together.

Rose gave her a slightly uncomfortable smile in return and stood there awkwardly as the moments ticked by in complete silence. There was something June needed to tell her, but she was putting off doing so. Rose could always tell when the Captain was holding back. She acted overly polite and would stare at her as if the conversation had already happened and Rose knew exactly what she was thinking. All one could do was wait it out and eventually June would actually start talking.

"Well," June finally began after several more moments. "I'm glad you're here now because there is something you need to be aware of…"

June just looked at her with a smile and blinked her cat-like eyes. Rose really could have done without the grand pauses. She had places to be and work to be done.

"Yes, ma'am?" she replied without sounding too impatient. She had a feeling she knew what it was about anyway and just wanted to get it over with.

"I'm to inform you that Captain Woods has filed a formal complaint against you for your actions the other day…" June finally answered way too pleasantly.

Rose's eyes flickered over to Mildred, who had a satisfied sneer on her pudgy, unattractive face, for a moment before dropping them down to the floor.

"Yes, ma'am…" Rose's shoulders slumped as she sighed.

She didn't know why it bothered her so much. She knew it was coming after all. She was actually surprised he hadn't requested a full-on letter of court martial.

"Also, I will not be handling the Article 15…" June continued.

Of course you wouldn't, Rose said in her head. Mildred was probably going to be the one in charge of that. She wondered what it was going to be..KP for the rest of the war, the stocks?

"Captain Woods will…" June suddenly said. "As he is Chief OR surgeon and the incident did occur there. You are to report to his office at 1800 hours."

Rose stared at her superior in utter confusion. It wasn't a secret that she and Charlie were friends and he'd been involved in the incident. Wasn't a third party supposed to be proctoring the procedures for something like this? Shouldn't Major Flint or even Colonel Jackson be in charge of this? Rose just didn't understand.

"Is that clear?" June asked sweetly.

"Yes, ma'am." Rose dutifully nodded, even though it was far from clear.

"Alright then, you better get down to Post-op." the Captain clapped her hands together and nodded.

Rose snapped to and saluted the woman, before turning on her heal and walking out of the music room. She shook her head and shifted her helmet to her other arm. How could they put Charlie in that position? How could he be expected to punish a good friend while at the same time remain true to military regulations? But then again, maybe it would be in her favor. Charlie knew Woods wasn't the best surgeon and that Rose had just done what she needed to. Rose didn't regret stepping in for a moment, even though that decision was causing her more distress then her already stressed body and mind needed. She was so confused, but there'd be time to figure that out later. There was a very important private she needed to check on…

Well, there you are. I know it seems like things are dragging on a bit, but I'm trying to stay true to the series and there was just so much that happened during the Battle of the Bulge. I hope you will stick with me because I promise you'll understand why they had to go through all this in the end. Thank you so much for reading and I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas. :)


	14. Chapter 14 Nothing Ever Makes Sense

For the first time, the hospital was totally calm. Once in awhile, Rose would hear a distant artillery round, like a distant rumble of thunder, but it was such a regular occurrence that she hardly even noticed them. Though the days were starting to get just a little longer, it still felt like it was already ten when really it was only five o'clock. A few oil lamps gave off a warm glow, but their cadmium halos only extended a few feet from the flickering sources, creating little islands of light throughout the otherwise dark and quiet recovery room. Rose sat in one of those islands of light in at desk, her pen scratching away at a piece of paper. She was trying to write a letter home, but was finding great difficulty in doing so.

_Dear Ma,_

So far, that was all she had written on her third scrap of paper. She sat there with her pen poised over the paper whose color matched her skin. Rose was afraid to write anything more than that because she knew she'd end up crinkling it up and starting over again. Rose set down her pen on the table top and let her heavy head fall in her hands. She had no idea what to tell her family. With the censorship, there wasn't much she could tell them about as far as what was happening with the war. Even if without the censorships, she never told them about all the horrors she'd been through. She saved all that for a diary she tried to write in as often as possible.

She didn't exactly feel like telling them about her own personal war she had started either.

Dear Ma, she composed in her head. You know how you always warned me about my temper? Well, I should have listened.

Rose rolled her eyes at herself dropped her hands away from her face. She picked up her pen and started writing the typical 'hi-I'm still alive and well-the food is horrible-miss you-hope all is well at home-love you" letter she'd written millions of times.

"I think we have another private gunning for a section 8…" an exasperated sounding female said.

Rose lifted her head from her letter and watched 2nd Lieutenant Elaine Parker sink down into the chair across from her with the look of complete and utter frustration screwing up her delicate, aristocratic face.

Elaine was a horribly shy, quiet banker's daughter of _the _Parker family in New York. They were one of the richest, oldest, most influential families in Manhattan. They were all bankers and stock brokers. They lived in big, fancy penthouses and owned vacation homes in exotic, tropical places that Rose had never even heard of. Elaine grew up with a governess, butlers, maids, a French tutor, a Latin teacher, violin and piano lessons, and, well, silver spoons of course. She went to fancy, private boarding schools with names like So-and-So's-Something Academy for Privileged Young Ladies and they had wings named after her relatives. Many of the other nurses, including Rose herself, had at one time or another, questioned what in God's name impelled the petite, fragile and innocent, little Elaine to join the Army Nurse Corps.

She'd never washed a thing in her life, lifted anything heavier than large novel, or had orders barked out at her. According to the rest of the nurses, Elaine cried herself to sleep nearly every night during training. After a while, Annie couldn't fall asleep if she didn't hear Elaine's soft whimpers from a few bunks away in the Nurse's barracks. The rich man's daughter didn't exactly take well to blood either. She was a fainter. Everyone knew keep an eye on her and be prepared to stick a hand out when she got that glassy look in her hazel eyes and her heart shaped face turned as white as her surgical mask.

As well as being squeamish, the easily flustered nurse was terribly clumsy. Elaine had dropped an unspeakable number of sterilized instruments trays all over the filthy OR floor and bounced off of everyone like a pinball in the chaos. She'd been scolded and yelled by almost everyone, including Rose, but only once back just after the invasion. Rose knew screaming at her was only going to make things worse and she tried to boost the poor girl's confidence by encouraging her and giving her advice on how to calm herself down during the flurry of incoming wounded.

On the other hand, Lt. Clarke never missed an opportunity to belittle and screech at the poor little nurse for any possible minute infraction she may or may not have done. The power hungry Lieutenant had Elaine set permanently set in her sights. It frustrated Rose to no end. Any progress Rose made with Elaine was completely reversed anytime Mildred set her beady little eyes on the poor girl. Because June gave Mildred nothing to do, she took it on herself to be the enforcer of all rules impractical and downright stupid. She was like that evil, corrupt advisor that sat next to the ignorant monarchs throne and whispered untruths and misguided counsel in their easily persuaded ears.

"Why?" Elaine threw up her hands and quietly exclaimed. "Why do they think they can pull this on me? Do I really look that gullible?"

Rose softly laughed and ducked her eyes back down to her letter. It was best that question remained rhetorical. Elaine was very soft spoken and had huge, doe-like eyes and a near perfect complexion that made it hard to believe she was an actual nurse and not some sixteen year old candy stripper. The poor girl did seem to be a magnet for those soldiers feigning mental illness to get out of duty.

"What's he saying?" the Chief Nurse inquired as she finished the last few sentences of her generic letter.

"He keeps insisting he's a trombone player in Bob Hope's bandstand…" Elaine answered. "And that he and his 'invisible' band mate need to hitch a ride to Paris and catch up with the USO before they head out to the Pacific for MacArthur's Christmas show!"

Rose's eyes flickered up to the flustered nurse for a second and smirked.

"That's a new one…" Rose commented with a quirk of her brow.

Diagnosing insanity was a slippery slope in the field of combat medicine. There was no doubt in Rose's mind that war truly did make some men go mad. She had seen it firsthand. Some of those poor boys had either been completely scared out of their wits by artillery barrages or struck dumb after seeing their best buddy blown into several pieces right next to them on the blood soaked sand during Operation Overlord. None of the soldiers had ever experienced anything as horrific and utterly terrifying as landing of those beaches. There was absolutely nothing their instructors could have done to prepare those young men for that hell.

Sometimes, the simplest cure was simply a comforting hand and a shoulder to cry on. Others were in a bit more dire shape. They had to be sent to a mental ward somewhere as far away from the battle field as possible and go through some serious rehabilitation. However, some didn't suffer from insanity, they suffered from cowardliness, and it was sometimes nearly impossible to tell the difference. Because of those people who fiend insanity, some military higher ups didn't believe in battle fatigue or temporary insanity. It had actually been Rose's old unit in Africa where Patton's infamous slapping incident had taken place. She hadn't actually witnessed it, but as she knew all too well, word had traveled fast. Rose didn't condone what the flamboyant general did, but she couldn't blame him either. It was so hard to be accommodating when one just didn't know what to handle a situation like that, especially for a piss and vinegar general like Patton. Just like teaching, it was hard to know if a firm hand or a kind word was needed. Unfortunately, it only took one rotten apple in the bunch to spoil it for the rest and men who truly needed psychiatric help went untreated.

"He's such a pest…" Elaine grumbled. "Every time I'm anywhere near him he spouts off and he disturbs the rest of the men."

Rose looked up and shook her head as she sighed despondently. Her pen made a thud as she dropped it onto the never ending stack of charts and clipboards that cluttered the desk. The Chief Nurse rubbed her cramping hand as she leaned back in her chair and sighed.

"Well," she began to say. Rose had inkling that Elaine wanted her to go handle the delusional private, but she didn't have the energy nor time. Elaine knew what needed to be done and it was about time the girl took a step without Rose holding her hand. "Make sure you inform his primary physician. He'll probably have you send for Major Anderson or Father Bechman…"

As Elaine listened, Rose could see her face fall and the fear creep up into her large eyes. The poor girl was so timid when it came to talking to higher ranking officers, let alone men. She was known as "Leery Lainy" among the surgeons. Rose just didn't understand the girl. One would have thought that since she was from a life of wealth and privilege, Elaine would have completely spoiled and full of herself. But she didn't fit the stereotype one bit. Rose appreciated her modestly and her fluency in French was invaluable, but she wished the young woman wasn't such a wall flower all the time.

"Clear?" Rose asked, leaning forward in her chair and setting her hands on the oak desk top.

Elaine answered with the formal 'yes, ma'am', but Rose would have gotten the same kind of response if she'd been holding a gun to mousey nurse's head.

"Elaine…" she said with a soft voice and looked at the woman with a warmth in her eyes that had been known to stop tears, sooth the disappointment of a poor test score, and encourage even the most dejected pupils. "You'll do just fine. I know you're scared, trust me…we all are…but, you gotta believe in yourself. Not only for your own benefit, but for everybody's…" Rose motioned around to the room filled beyond its capacity with the recovering wounded. "for them…the doctors, the nurses…we all need each other to get through this."

Rose's words washed over the fragile woman and she sat there silently as they soaked in. Her fingers toyed with a curl of hair at the nape of her neck, a nervous tendency she always resorted to. Finally, a shaky sigh quivered up from Elaine's chest, but she nodded diligently.

"Yes, ma'am…" she squeaked, but there was a tiny, grateful smile on her perfectly bowed lips.

Rose gave her another warm smile and jerked her head towards the seemingly never ending line of cots behind them.

"Go on…go over there and have a chat with his 'friend' and see what instrument he plays." Rose joked with a sly smile as she picked up her pen and situated herself to return to her writing.

That got a giggle out of the Elaine. The nurse stood up from her seat and nodded with a seemingly invigorated morale and walked away. Rose watched the nurse's back for a few moments with a tiny glimmer of satisfaction in her tired, brown eyes. It was a small victory in a never ending battle. Rose sighed and looked back down and wrote a few closing sentances.

_I miss you all dearly and love you very much._ She wrote and prepared to sign her name at the bottom.

"Lieutenant?" a voice interrupted for a second time.

Rose's eyes shot up and saw that it once again was Elaine standing before her.

"Yes?" Rose inquired softly. "What is it?"

"I…ma'am…" Elaine stuttered and nervously wrung her hands together. "I…I just wanted to say I thought what you did for the soldier was really brave…"

Rose felt a hitch in her breath, but her face remained emotionless as the banker's daughter continued to speak.

"What you said about all of us needing each other…" Elaine's hazel eyes flickered to the floor, as if suddenly embarrassed. "I hope you know that the rest us girls think you really are a swell nurse." She lifted her eyes back up to meet Rose's face. "No matter what the outcome with Captain Woods, we all are standing behind you…"

Rose swallowed the lump in her throat. The veteran nurse hadn't expected such a heartfelt statement from little, Leary Lainy to mean so much to her. So often, she was the one doing the complimenting and reassuring that she'd forgotten what it felt like to get one herself from a colleague.

"Thank you, Elaine…I really appreciate that…" Rose answered from the bottom of her heart, but she quickly ducked her head down before Elaine saw the tears caught in her lower eyelashes. "You…" Rose cleared her throat and busied herself with some chart that was all of a sudden very important she find at that very moment. "You better get going…"

Elaine smiled, the confidence was suddenly radiating off of her.

"Yes, ma'am."

With that, Elaine Parker walked down the aisle between the cots with her chin held a little higher than normal. Rose quit her pointless riffling once she was sure she was gone and quickly rubbed away those pesky tears before anyone else decided to drop in on her.

"Damn you, Dick." Rose whispered to herself behind her hands.

Rose felt like she was nothing but a tear bucket since Paris. She'd spent almost her whole life hiding her feelings because she didn't want people to take pity on her and coddle her like a pathetic, little orphan. After Molly died and she joined the Army, that detachment became a valuable and necessary tool. Spending time with the paratrooper had melted away her steeliness, and the same went for him. They'd reminded each other what it felt like to feel again, to experience emotions besides exhaustion, despair, worry and fear and that it was okay to show those emotions. But now, Rose felt like a flood gate had been opened. She couldn't stop all of them from bubbling up and it was just downright annoying.

Speaking of annoying, Rose looked down at her watch and scowled. It was nearly time to go meet her maker. Rose put down her pen again and rubbed the back of her neck as she sighed. Those newly rediscovered emotions probably had put her in this mess in the first place. Rose knew she should have gone and gotten another surgeon instead of saying the things she had to Woods. However, everyone else had been incredibly busy, by the time she'd found someone and gotten him gloved up, the boy would have bled out. Rose could have also just pushed Woods out of the way and started looking for that bleeder without insulting him first. The Rose Thorn Show shouldn't have moved to primetime right then and there.

Rose sighed and let her body melt into the woodwork of the uncomfortable, creaky chair she'd been sitting in way too long. Hindsight is 20/20, Ma always said. Rose knew her grandmother was right, there wasn't an idiom that was truer.

Despite all the misgiving Rose had about her actions, she couldn't deny that it had felt absolutely empowering to finally let the arrogant jerk have it. He'd had it coming for a long time. As well as being a terrible doctor, the sorry example of a man was a sexist pig. Many of the other women in the outfit had complained of his suggestive, demeaning remarks and total inconsideration for their abilities. Apparently it was a scientific fact that if a person lacked certain appendages below their waist, they couldn't do medicine. As Woods had stated in their little discussion, the nurses' jobs were to be eye-candy for the men. Rose didn't recall that part of the nurse's oath, but she guessed it had been a long time since she'd taken it…

Rose looked at her watch again and inwardly groaned. Why did time always seem to fly by when there was something unpleasant in the near future? She picked up her pen and signed _'Rosemary'_ across the bottom before folding and stuffing it in one of the many pockets of her fatigue jacket. She started putting the various charts and papers in order for Annie who was going to cover for her and stiffly stood up from her seat and stretched her back.

She looked around the dimly lit hall. There had to be at least eighty or more soldiers stuffed into every possible space. Many more were scattered out in various classrooms and hallways. Her eyes settled on a particular row of cots that she'd visited quite often in the last few days. It was the place closest to the science classroom that had been serving as the OR, and the resting place for the soldier whose life this whole debacle had been started over. There might have well been a path worn in the wooden floor because Rose had gone over to his side so many times in the last 48 hours. Rose's feet followed that path across the room and she eased down in the chair that somebody had conveniently placed by the private's bedside, as if knowing he'd have a frequent visitor.

Robert J. Butler had been give three blood transfusions, the last one being courtesy of an MP who had eyes for Annie and a sergeant who owed Rose a favor for resetting and keeping a finger he'd broken in a brawl with a soldier from another unit off the books. The blonde soldier still hadn't maintained conscious for more than a few mumbles and thrashed at a time, but he did seem to be getting better. His face wasn't so deathly white and his breathing seemed steadier and deeper.

Rose carefully leaned over the still boy and gently lifted the wool blanket that covered his torso. His naked chest rose and fell like a boat on top of gentle, rolling waves. Below his chest, his middle was wrapped with a stark, white bandage. Rose and another nurse had changed the dressing just a few hours ago. She wasn't happy with how they had done it, there should have been at least three more layers wrapped around him to properly put pressure over his wound, but they had to make do with what they had. Supplies were getting dangerously low. When the nurses and orderlies weren't carrying out their normal duties, they were busy boiling and sterilizing as much reusable supplies as they could. The tiny blots of crimson blood that had soaked up to the snow white cloth over his opened belly was a painful reminder how dire their situation was becoming.

Rose pulled the blanket back over the boy's body and picked up his wrist to take his heart rate. After timing it out on her watch, she leaned closer to his head and gently pulled up his eyelid, exposing one of his bluer than blue eyes. She held her hand and shaded it from the light before quickly pulling it away. His pupil shrank nearly immediately. Rose breathed a relieved sigh and settled back down in her chair. She didn't write anything on Private Butler's chart because Rita had done the very same examination no more than twenty minutes ago. Rose just had to make sure for herself.

"Well, Private…" Rose softly spoke to the unmoving soldier as she looked at her watch. "This might sound selfish of me, but I need you to get better…"

She reached over and gently squeezed his fingers and watched one of his eyes twitch a few times before it returned to stillness.

"I might need you as a witness at my trial…" she sardonically joked with a halfhearted smile.

Rose sat there for as long as she possibly could, somewhat wishing that he'd suddenly awaken. However, he only continued to lay there, his breath softly whistling between his parted lips. Rose gave his hand one last squeeze before grudgingly hauling her body up off the chair. She took a step towards the aisle, but had to wait as two solemn orderlies carrying a blanket covered litter passed in front of her. Not far behind, was Father Bechman holding his worn bible against his chest. Rose impassively watched the grim procession go through the double doors and disappear. Dead bodies didn't bother her. She'd seen plenty of them in her lifetime. What bothered her was thinking about the souls that no longer occupied those bodies.

Hopefully, it wasn't some sort of omen.

The nurse pushed the worry out of her head and looked across the room to the desk she'd recently occupied and saw a blond head of curls bent over, furiously writing. Annie had arrived while Rose was with Butler and didn't want to interrupt her friend. However, as if sensing Rose's stare, the younger woman looked up and made eye contact. Annie put down the pen in her hand, but didn't get up to wish her friend good luck. Instead, she gave Rose a small, sweet smile and one acknowledging nod. She knew Rose well enough to know that the woman wasn't one for melodramatic scenes.

The unsaid encouragement was exactly what Rose needed. Rose gratefully returned the smile and took one last look around the large room before she turned and headed out the doors. The hallways of the main floor were filled the dim chatter and mumbles of personal and soldiers. The small town had also become somewhat of a marshaling area for what was left of the troops as they remobilized and prepared to return to battle. The school had become an aid station as well as a full on hospital, draining even more of their precious resources.

They were nearly out of food. The only full meal Rose had eaten other than the first night they'd arrived was a few spoonfuls of a strange, disgusting looking concoction of an unidentifiable pale, rubbery meat (Corporal Flint started the rumor it was stray cat) and pinto beans. The unsavory muck had at least been warm, but Rose wasn't desperate enough to eat it ever again. Instead, the nurse lived on coffee and little bites of her Hershey bar she kept stashed in her pack.

If there was one thing that Rose could praise the Army for, it would be for putting chocolate bars in K-rations. Rose's love for chocolate may have looked more like an addiction to others. Carlyle and Henry, who had their father's blonde hair and blue eyes, teased Rose that she got her brunette features from all the chocolate she ate. However, she had been blessed with her father's extraordinarily sturdy teeth while those two dingbats had more gold and silver in their mouths than a jewelry store.

Rose's heart sank ever so slightly as she grasped the cold, smooth banister and pulled herself up the flight of stairs. Though Henry could be quite the numskull sometimes and Carlyle acted like a know-it-all much too often, Rose did miss them dearly. The three of them had stuck together and survived some pretty rough times. Carlyle was married to a very sweet, though sometimes a bit neurotic, woman named Ellen. They lived in a small house he, Henry and Pa built just over the hill from their home farm. They had two girls and a little boy whom Rose missed dearly. On the last round of letters Rose received from her family, she'd been informed that they were now expecting a fourth child. While Carlyle was the mature, responsible one, Henry was like the silly sidekick in the slapstick comedies. Sometimes, Rose felt like they'd been born in the wrong order. Henry was more like a little brother rather than being nearly four years her senior. He was a self-proclaimed ladies man, who also swore he was never going to get married.

Both had been rejected by the draft board, twice actually. The first time had been just after Pearl Harbor. Because they worked for Pop at the time, the draft board deemed them essential agricultural workers. As America geared up for the Invasion of Europe and as the situation over in the Pacific continued, they got a lot less picky. Once again, the Beyer boys were called up, and once again, they were sent home. Carlyle had been left nearly deaf in his left ear after a bout with Scarlet Fever as child and Henry had a heart murmur. Though Rose felt bad about both their ailments, she also thanked God for them. At least women in the military were generally kept out of harm's way. Knowing her brothers, they would have charged head first into that danger and probably gotten themselves killed in a matter of hours.

Then again, Rose couldn't very well criticize of her brothers with a clear conscious. She guessed she was genetically inclined to jump into things without thinking.

The Lieutenant felt a bit like she was walking her death march as she marched down the dimly lit hallway to Captain Kent's office. The echoes of her unpolished boots on the dusty, scratched floors were hollow and empty. However, her gait didn't give any indication of hesitation. It was steady and determined. It matched her feeling at the moment. Rose didn't feel one ounce of fear about her impending meeting. In the matter of fact, she could feel her fiery, Lena-like temper simmering to a boil inside of her, but she was trying her damndest to suppress it. Rose wasn't sure who of the brass was also going to be in Charlie's office administering the little get-together, so she needed to be on her best behavior.

She finally came to the end of the hall. She stopped at the large oak door and looked at it. She'd been through the door several times in the last few days and yet she'd never noticed just how intimidating the door really was. She imagined all the students standing in her very spot and just how much they didn't want to step through that portal. Rose sighed and smoothed the creases of her uniform and tucked back the nonexistent stray hairs behind her ears. Her eyes focused on a particular knot in the wood grain for a moment before she lifted her hand and rapped her knuckles against the oak.

"Enter." Rose heard Charlie's baritone voice say.

Here is the beginning of the end, Rose thought. She grasped the painfully cold brass knob with her fingers and pushed open the door. She entered the dimly lit office and saw Charlie standing behind his desk reading over a chart. She quickly scanned the room, looking for the rest of the posse of officers, but it found not another soul.

"Ah, Lieutenant Beyer…" he acknowledged and put the chart down motioned to the chair in front of the large, ornately carved desk. "Have a seat."

Rose, like a dutiful junior officer would, quickly and quietly took her seat and looked up at the Captain as he sat down into his chair. Charles Kent was in his early thirties and had just started his residency at a hospital in St. Louis when Uncle Sam called him up. He was good doctor and an excellent thoracic surgeon. From the first incision to the last suture, he could pull off an appendectomy in less than fifteen minutes. As well as being a first-class doctor, he was a good officer and an even better man. He was the calmest, most level-headed, as well as funniest officer in the entire unit. However, like Rose, he had been though some trying times in his life and he carried those scars deep within his being. After scraping and clawing his way through medical school, the young and bright doctor found the perfect job, had the perfect wife, bought a perfect little house and had a perfect baby girl.

He had everything going for him until everything came crashing down one snowy, icy night. His wife, who was seven months pregnant with their second child, died after her taxi was struck by another vehicle. Suddenly, his life was anything but perfect. He gave up his dream job and moved back to his hometown to be closer to both his wife's and his family to raise his daughter. Barbara was now six years old and lived with back in St. Louis with his sister and her family while he served. The adorable, little girl's picture went everywhere with him and it currently sat on the corner of his desk, with blonde ringlets in pigtails and smiling proudly to show off a missing front tooth.

Rose wasn't exactly certain how he and Annie came to be so close, but she was certain of them. They weren't by any means an obvious couple if one based the match purely on looks. Though Charlie was a good-looking man, he was a bit plain in comparison to Annie's undeniable beauty. He was more than a few years older than her and he said he wasn't losing his hair, his forehead was just growing. He was also a shorter and stouter built man, while Annie was taller and lean. The two were a true testament to the saying that love was blind.

Though they both claimed their friendship was platonic and had done a pretty good job of convincing everyone else so, but Rose knew better. She had seen the way they looked at each other. It wasn't the cutesy, lovey-dovey, puppy dog love like one would have expected from someone as outgoing and bubbly as Annie. She and he captain had a partnership based off of respect and trust. They knew each other so well they didn't even have to say a word to know what the other was thinking. They reminded her of an old married couple. Though she wasn't supposed to encourage the relationshi, Rose secretly hoped she might be a bridesmaid when and if they ever made it back home to the States.

"So," the Captain shuffled some papers out of the way as he spoke. "this won't take long…"

It never does, Rose thought to herself and grimaced a little.

"I know you're wondering why I'm the one talking to you…" he looked across the desk with a slight smile and continued before Rose could even display some sort of response. "Colonel Jackson and Major Fitch are pretty busy trying to sort out the supply situation, and, well, you know how Captain Naverson is…" he said rolling his eyes slightly. "So, they asked me to pass along the recommendation of reprimand they've decided on."

Rose solemnly nodded and braced herself for it.

"Because of the seriousness of the current situation the unit is in," Charlie said gravely and looked at the nurse with a deadpan gaze. "it has been decided that you will be charged with a 50 dollar fine…"

Rose remained deathly still and eyed the Captain, just waiting for him to continue with the rest of the sentence. However, the seconds ticked by and he only raised a dark, thick eyebrow at her. It slowly became apparent to her that he had nothing more to say. Rose blinked several times in confusion and astonishment.

"That's it?" she asked disbelievingly.

Charlie gave her a look and smirked.

"Why?" he asked sarcastically. "Would you like more? I could make something up."

Rose's dropped her jaw for a moment and then jerkily shook her head.

"It's just…" she frowned, still unconvinced. "I figured Woods was going to throw the book at me…"

She looked up at the man, searching for answers. A cautious feeling of relief started to slowly spread throughout her body, relaxing her tensed muscles.

"Well, Rose…" he leaned back in his chair and smiled warmly. "Just be thankful that there some people in this hospital who know what a good nurse and valuable leader you are…"

Rose bit her bottom lip and she twisted a corner of her fatigue jacket in her fingers as she pondered over the sudden change of events. Rose had psyched herself up to have the wrath of God cast on to her only to get a weak slap on the wrist. That feeling of relief intensified, but instead of being overwhelmed with joy, she felt like a balloon full of hot, angry air being slowly deflated. She no longer wanted to wring somebody's neck, which was lucky for Charlie because he was the only one in reach.

Rose sighed in relief and a tiny smile started to tug at the corners of her mouth. However, she suddenly looked up with a hint of trepidation returning to her softened face.

"What about him…Captain Woods…" she inquired soberly.

The Head Surgeon looked down at his hands and furrowed his brow as he seemed to contemplate how to choose his words. He looked back up at Rose with his lips pursed and pulled to the side, as if there was something he wanted to tell her, but couldn't.

Was their little exchange going to get swept under the rug? She wondered. In the incident report Rose had spent an hour of her life she had rather spent doing something else the other morning, she reiterated everything that had occurred, nearly word for word, no conjecture, no frilly, elaborate adjectives, just the truth. Rose only wished she bruised easier. Some women seemed to turn black and blue if the wind blew too hard, but other than being sore after receiving a blow or being grabbed, Rose rarely got a pretty contusion to show off and get sympathy for. It took much more than Woods's spindly, weak fingers to damage her tough hide.

"Well, I'll be speaking with him here pretty soon…" he finally said, then shrugged helplessly. "I can't tell you much else…"

Rose nodded understandably. She hadn't expected Woods to receive much of a punishment, though it would have been incredibly satisfying to see that weasel get nailed. However, they needed the extra hands during this attack, even as unskilled as they were. She wiped some imaginary dust off the knee of her pants and look back up at Charlie. They looked at one another for a few more seconds before he offered her another one of his warm, compassionate smiles.

"How are you doing?" he suddenly asked, squinting quizzically at her from the other side of the furniture.

Rose looked at him blankly, being caught off guard by his change in topic.

"I'm…fine…" she answered hesitantly. "…I guess as fine as I could be at the moment." She knew she looked tired, but didn't know it was that apparent. "Why do you ask?"

"I just was checking…" he shrugged, looking earnestly at her. "I know you've been under a lot of stress with this thing…and, well…Annie said something about you being worried…" his voice trailed off, as if realizing he was admitting their relationship out loud.

Rose swallowed a sudden lump in her throat and kept a look of fear and shock from spilling over her features. She furrowed her brow and shrugged, pretending to not only have no idea what he was talking about, but to seem not to care.

"Worried about what?" she asked, but the real underlying question was what did Annie tell you?

"Well, she's always asking me if I've heard anything about the 101st in Bastogne…" he said with a small grimace. "I asked why and she said you had an old friend from back home is in there, and that you were worried about him."

The woman nearly laughed as well as cried out loud. She dropped her eyes to her scuffed, unpolished boots and anxiously shifted in her chair. Of course Annie would do something like that. Tell someone just enough of the truth in order to get the information they needed out of them. She should have been a spy. I told her not to say _anything_, she fumed in her head. But suddenly, it occurred to her that maybe Annie had the right idea. Perhaps the safest place for her secret was right out in the open. Annie had already done the fibbing, all Rose had to do was tell the truth, just not the whole truth.

"Yah, he's on one of the battalion staffs." she said softly, picking at the cuticle of her nail, unable to look at the Captain's face, fearing she give it away that she was misleading him. "We used to be pretty close and I've just been wondering if he's okay…"

"I see…" he looked at her sympathetically. "I promise, if I hear anything, you'll be the first to know." He eyed the sullen woman as he rubbed his chin, wishing he had something more that could ease her distress. An encouraging smile suddenly lit up his face and made the corners of his hazel eyes crinkle. "But you know…those bastards are tough…unless," he paused and teasingly cocked his head to the side. "…if he broke your heart, maybe you want him dead…"

An uneasy chuckle escaped her lips and she shook her head. Though he'd meant it at a joke to ease her concern, fear gripped her heart just thinking about death and Dick in the same sentence.

"No…the parting was mutual…" she finally looked back up at him, no longer needing to hide her face because she was telling him the god-honest truth. However, she couldn't mask the faraway gaze in her eyes as she weakly smiled and shrugged. "We enjoyed our time together, but we both knew it wasn't meant to last…"

Sometimes, nothing was more painful than the truth.


	15. Chapter 15 Seeing is Believing

Hello wonderful readers. First off, I would like to extend my deepest, most sincere apologies for the delay in this story. As a fellow reader, I know exactly how disheartening and frustrating it is when you are left hanging for so long. I found myself getting a little batty when I finished the last chapter, so I decided I needed to take a break for a little while. Writing this had become a chore and it just wasn't fun anymore. I was writing only to get something posted and both the story and those around me were suffering. However, I really, really, truly, honestly did not mean to take this long of a break. This inadvertently got pushed back to the back burner (you know, that tiny little burner that nobody ever uses anyway) to school and an upcoming wedding (not mine) and a internship…before I knew it, the snow melted away and the trees had leaves…so again, I am so incredibly sorry. I also had another issue that hampered the progression of this story as well...

As most of you know, Major Winters passed away earlier this year. When I first started writing this story, my knowledge of him extended only as far as Damian Lewis's portrayal of him on screen. However, when I started researching the real man, I discovered what an incredible officer, leader and human being he was. If more people shared the same values and insight on the world as he had, we'd all certainly be living in a better place. I've always had a little bit of hesitance while writing fiction based on a real, living person's true story. Upon hearing of his passing, I really felt that I was doing him a great dishonor. I have the upmost respect for him and he has truly inspired me in numerous ways. His principles of leadership is hanging on my wall above my desk and his motto, 'Hang Tough', has kept me going at some pretty low times in my life. I will continue to write this story, but I would like to remind both myself and others that this is purely a work of fiction based off of what I watched on the miniseries. I have nothing to gain from this other than to entertain others and practice my own writing skills. If his family asked that this story be taken down, I'd do it in a heartbeat with no regrets.

Without further ado, here it be…finally (sorry again).

* * *

When Captain Richard D. Winters decided something, it was final. There was no more deliberation, no flip flopping, no backtracking, and no dithering. It was the mantra he had lived by since he'd joined the service. It was what a good officer and commander did; they were decisive. They had a job to do, a job that affected other people's lives. They had to know when and how to make tactical decisions at exactly the precise moment.

And the Executive Officer had made one of those decisions…he wasn't going to think about her anymore.

The Captain had to just act as though nothing had ever happened a just a few weeks ago. He never saw a beautiful woman sitting all alone at the café. He didn't become absolutely smitten with a quick-witted school teacher in only a few hours of conversation. He didn't almost kiss that woman on the streets of Paris and bare his soul to a proper stranger on a train. He did no such thing as return to a lower ranking officer's room after walking for around the city for nearly an hour, trying to suppress his desire for that certain nurse. He didn't wake up with his arms wrapped around a woman named Rosemary.

Dick just couldn't think about her anymore. He didn't want to, he didn't need to, he didn't have the time, he didn't have the energy to. He, nor the rest of the men, could afford to have him daydreaming about things that had already happened, that were never going to happen again. It was as simple as that.

Easy's disastrous reconnaissance patrol the day before had been the catalyst for his new, or reverted, state of mind. As he settled down into that foxhole and looked around at the morose, deadpan stares on the colorless faces of the men, he thought about the young man lying out in a desolate forest, in a frozen pool of his own blood. He died all alone, in and unfamiliar place, thousands of miles from his loved ones, before he even got the chance to begin his life.

Dick didn't know Julian personally. He was just another wide-eyed, overly-eager replacement that took the places of the men whom Dick had bled, sweated and fought with since the days back in the states. Now that he was dead, Dick wondered about the kid. He wondered what kind of life he would have led. Dick thought about the girl who never got to love him, the children that would never be born, the people whose lives he would have altered in some way. So many lives died with that young boy, so many dreams, so many people would never know him…it put things into perspective for the for the preoccupied officer.

Before yesterday, Dick had spent every spare moment to himself imagining a little farm back in Pennsylvania with a whitewashed house with a porch, a barn filled with some dairy cows, a small pond out back, a couple of kids running around barefoot in the yard, and a brown-eyed wife watching over them. The pastoral picture of green pastures and vibrant flower gardens in his head took him away from all the death, the destruction, hopelessness of the frozen woods he'd been damned to. It was what he wanted, what he'd rather have at the moment…but he couldn't have any of that and imagining it was silly and dangerous.

The other afternoon with Lewis had been the perfect anecdote. It had been downright irresponsible of him. That tree could have easily been a landmine. He had to be paying attention at all times to everything around him. He'd been doing the very thing that he and Rose had promised each other they wouldn't do. He had to be living in the here and now. The past was the past, and the future was a bit sketchy at the moment…

"Now, I don't want your boys runnin' around like a bunch of mangy, dogs fightin' over table scraps." Colonel Sink's clipped voice announced from the other room of the relatively intact house that served as the Regimental CP. "The quartermasters will collect and distribute the supplies equally."

Dick and Harry halted their discussion at the sound of the unique and unforgettable accent of the Colonel. They listened to the announcement and shared a look before dropping their eyes back to the dusty map on the rickety table neither dared put too much of their weight on.

The CP was a flurry of chaotic activity. However, instead of usual frantic chaos, there was an optimistic energy buzzing in the dank air as the staffers bustled around the commandeered home. Those C-47s that had flown overhead earlier that morning with the sunshine glistening off their wings had been like seeing angles float down to Earth. Everybody's spirits were soaring. The men were like giddy little boys on Christmas morning, except the packages they open contained toys a bit more grown up than BB guns and die-cast six shooters.

Though he was pleased to see the men in higher spirits, Dick didn't let himself get overly excited. Supplies weren't going to stop the German advances. Supplies didn't change the fact that men were still sitting out in those godforsaken foxholes getting frostbite and pneumonia. The temperature had dropped even more the last few days, making it more and more miserable every minute spent out in that damn forest. Dick hadn't slept more than a few hours in the last few days. It was so cold, his body just wouldn't let him lose consciousness and actually sleep. He was starving as well. He'd been ignoring the grumbles and the tightness in his gut for several days now. His time behind a desk had, despite his own personal 'battle of the bulge', caused the waistband of his trousers to become a bit snug. However, Belgium had taken care of that problem and then some. He found he had to tug is belt quite a bit tighter than he remembered having to back in Par…well, back before Hitler threw this sucker punch.

Dick glanced over to the crackling fireplace where the remnants of a once beautiful walnut buffet were being sacrificed for the _cause_. Nixon and Strayer had conveniently staked out a standing place right next to the glowing hearth. Strayer's orderly and Fox Company's commander stood at their flanks, trying to inch their way closer to the radiating heat. Dick didn't need to try lighting his backside on fire to enjoy its warmth. Just hearing and smelling the burning wood warmed his body from the inside out. Unfortunately, the few blissful, shiver-free moments were bittersweet. By the time his body thawed out, it would be time to go right back out into the elements.

"Intelligence said the Krauts moved their one of their guns the east 'bout a hundred yards." Harry pointed a dirty fingernail to a spot on the map.

"Yah, right at Dog's CP…" Dick grumbled.

His blue eyes scanned the dingy material for a few seconds as he contemplated the course of action. Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole hell of a lot he could do. They knew the German's were preparing to make a move and Dick had to keep their lines together, as thin as they were, it was better than nothing.

"Okay," he nodded. "I'll have Dog shift their CP to the west." He pointed to the position on the map. "Other than that they will maintain their current position. And make sure their mortar squad has at least something."

Harry wavered for a moment, like he wanted to say something, but he just nodded and looked up at the taller man with an understanding nod. Their eyes met and they stared at one another for a moment. They both knew there wasn't much anyone could do. Dog Company had to hold the line, zeroed in or not. War is war.

"Yah…" Harry reluctantly agreed as he stood back up and crossed his arms over his chest.

Nixon walked around a dusty chaise longue and joined the two Pennsylvanians. He had probably been the unit's most valuable asset throughout this entire siege. He'd worked tirelessly since this whole ordeal had started. He took turns with Dick walking the line, checking on the men and gathering their own intelligence. The operations officer acted as a liaison between the Battalion and Regiment. He always was instrumental in the planning and coordination of pretty much everything they did. Dick couldn't imagine going through this war without the alcoholic, he definitely made Dick's job a great deal easier.

"Well," Lewis's gravelly voice croaked. "You gentlemen want to hear the bad news or the devastating news first?"

He crossed his hands over his helmet that he held over his belly and glanced back and forth between the two, waiting for an answer. Dick looked up from the soiled map with an expressionless gaze and waited for the S3 to spill the news. Lewis knew better than to think Dick would answer. It was just the way he was sometimes. Since the other day, something about Dick had changed, again. He was the most uptight Lewis had ever seen him. He double checked everything he did, he walked the lines religiously and chatted with nearly every soldier in the entire battalion. Not that he hadn't done the same things before, but now he was overdoing them. Lewis knew that Dick had been pretty disturbed by Easy's patrol. It had turned out just as he'd predicted. Most of the battalion hadn't faired all that well. They knew where the enemy line was and that the Krauts still had plenty of ammo to throw at them, but that had been about all the intelligence gathered from the operation. It had been about as stupid as poking a stick in a hornet's nest just to see if they were home.

Lewis cleared his throat and glanced down at Harry's curly mop of hair before looking back down at Dick.

"The bad news is that Ike nixed Bradley…" he said. "Whatever's left of the infantry that got their asses kicked outta here in the first place it now under Monty."

"That ain't all that bad…" Harry commented, glancing sideways to make sure no one important was in ear shot. "Ole' Omar couldn't lead a marching band …what's the devastating news?"

Dick put down his pencil and wiped his running nose as he looked up at Nix. A small part of him, that he was trying to ignore, wished that Lewis's sarcasm would find its way into his impending words and that the devastating news was really something good or very insignificant.

"They only dropped about a quarter of the supplies we actually need…" Lewis answered grimly. "They're getting freezing rain and 40 mile per hour winds back at the air strip, so don't bother looking up anytime soon."

No such luck, Dick's unconsciously said to himself in his head.

"That's why Sink is being such a tight ass about the supplies." Harry mumbled and let out a loud, sticky cough into the crook up his elbow.

"Yah," Lewis nodded. "The heaviest hit positions will get priority…2nd Battalion will get what's ever left."

Lewis's almost black eyes settled onto the fair-skinned Captain.

"Dick, Strayer wants to speak to you too." Nixon motioned over his shoulder with a jerk of his scruffy chin. "You might be in for an ear full if it's the same thing he chided me about. Don't say I didn't warn you…"

Dick glanced over Lewis's vacated spot next to the Lt. Colonel, trying to judge just how bad of a mood he was in. Then again, Strayer seemed as though he was always frowning no matter his disposition. Colonel Strayer was a good man and a good staffer in an administrative sense, but he lacked confidence in decision making and planning in the field. Ever since they'd entered combat, he'd always needed an entourage surrounding him to feed him ideas, sometimes they were the wrong ideas. Since Dick's promotion, many, actually nearly all of the decisions of combat operations in the last few months often fell down the ladder to Dick, but he didn't mind one bit. Strayer knew the Captain did what he did well, and Dick liked the feeling that he was actually leading the men, that he was actually doing something useful.

"Great." he grumbled sarcastically as he picked up a stubby pencil and scribbled a few final notes on a scrap of paper before stuffing it in his jacket.

He combed his fingers through his hair, only to grimace at the grubby feeling of his scalp. It was just another fact of their situation he was trying to ignore. At least there was one plus about the bitter cold. Everyone was so congested with colds and sinus infections that they couldn't smell each other, unlike back in the summer heat and humidity six months ago. They probably gave away their positions with their stink sometimes. Dick wiped his fingers on the dirt crusted thigh of his trousers and walked over to the Battalion commander like he'd done so many times before.

* * *

"Rose!" Annie called out as she burst into the dormitory she and the rest of their platoon shared.

She wildly looked around the dim lit room before she ran across the room and fell to her knees at the side of an occupied cot. She reached over and violently shook the sleeping body under that mound of blankets. "Rose! Come on! Wake up!"

Rose was sacked out on her belly with her head so deeply embedded in one pillow and another held over her head. Annie feared for a second that she'd suffocated herself in the feather down. However, the inaudible groans that came up from the down cocoon let Annie breathe a sigh of relief.

"Rose, honey, come on…" Annie continued her attempts in a less erratic method.

Rose buried her head deeper in her pillow, refusing to become cognizant. It was the first time she'd gotten more than four hours of sleep since they'd gotten into this mess. She was so warm, so comfortable, so blissfully asleep that she could have slept for the rest of her life. But that state of euphoria only lasted for a half a second more. Her training kicked in and her body instantaneously snapped awake like a bucket of cold water had been thrown in her face. She suddenly rolled over and was in the sitting position with such superhuman-like speed that it nearly knocked Annie back on her behind.

"What is it?" Rose's groggily said as she roughly rubbed her face. Still half awake, she blindly reached for her boots.

"It's Private Butler…" Annie answered as she grabbed a boot and thrust it in Rose's fumbling hands while she shoved the other on the seated woman's foot.

Rose's heart stopped. _No…, _she thought. She lifted her head and looked at the other nurse with eyes already brimming with tears.

"What…is he…" Rose couldn't even finish her sentence with her choke-up whisper of a voice.

"No, no, no, no!" Annie reassured and took other boot from Rose's idle hands. "He's conscious and he's asking for you!"

"What?" Rose gasped.

She couldn't believe it, he wasn't supposed to make it through the night. She sat there for a moment and closed her eyes, letting the relief spread its relaxing warmth through her body. However, there wasn't a moment to lose. Annie finished sloppily lacing Rose's boots and hauled the still slightly dazed woman up from the tangle of her blankets.

"We gotta go, come on…" Annie pulled her out the dormitory.

Rose somehow remembered to grab helmet on the way out. Rose stumbled a few steps as Annie dragged her along. She still didn't completely have her wits about her, and her coordination was suffering greatly.

"What's the matter?" Rose exclaimed, grabbing the door frame to steady herself.

"They just delivered supplies and they're going to evacuate some of the wounded…" Annie spoke almost as fast as an auctioneer and a cattle sale. "He's stable enough and they're getting ready to take him any minute."

Rose finally managed to wrestle her limb away from the frantic nurse before they reached the flight of stair before them. Rose thought Purple Hearts were pretty, but she didn't necessarily want one for herself. The two quickly descended into total chaos. All the people in their helmets looked like a mass of little green beetles swarming around on a log somebody had just rolled over. Supply personnel were trying to push their way in through the narrow double doors with heavy crates in their arms while litter carriers were trying to push their way out with wounded soldiers and doctors and nurses ran about in between the bunch.

"Where is he?" Rose called out as the two pushed their way through the crowd.

"I dunno…" Annie responded as she stretched up and tried peering over the masses like a prairie dog.

Rose looked around with a disgusted glare weighing down her brow. Rose wished she had a whistle or a starter pistol she could stand on a table with to get everyone's attention so she tell them all to get themselves in order and to stop running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. However, given she'd just barely skirted serious charges, the Lieutenant decided it was probably best she kept her head down. Still, she had to find that private.

"Corporal!" Rose grabbed one of the orderlies by the arm.

"Ma'am!" he skidded to a stop and tipped his helmet back.

The Corporal, George Jenson, was tall, lean, muscular, incredibly charming and unspeakably handsome. He'd had hopes of going to med school before being drafted and somehow managed to get into a medical unit instead of being placed as a medic in a combative unit. Because of his undeniable good looks, he was the most favorite object of ogling for almost every female in their unit. The poor man received a great deal of unwanted attention. Rose liked the man as well, but it wasn't because of his sandy blonde hair and a face that had been sculpted by the gods. Rose was one of the few women who wasn't smitten with him, and because of that he was able to talk with her without being flirted with. Needless to say, it caused a great deal of jealousy from the other nurses, but they didn't know he had a girl waiting for him back home. Rose had somewhat taken it upon herself to protect him from the ferocious females. George was a good man and was going to make an excellent doctor some day.

"George, do you know where Private Butler is?" she asked frantically.

George looked at her blankly.

"Who?" he asked, reaching up and rubbing his forehead. He had absolutely no idea who she was talking about. The poor man had seen over a hundred privates in the last few days.

"Butler!" Annie jumped in a repeated. "The one Woods botched!"

It immediately dawned on Jenson and he looked around like an excited little boy who couldn't wait to show them something.

"They just took 'em out." He exclaimed, waving his pointed finger toward the congested doorway.

Rose looked over to the doors where the frigid air was gusting in. Annie suddenly grabbed her sleeve and pulled her towards it. Rose managed to shove her helmet just as they stepped out into the bitter cold. The chaos, though not as concentrated as in the school, was still just as frenzied and unorganized. The town square was a mess of ambulances and personal vehicles.

"You might as well paint a goddamn bulls eye on the roof!" Rose overhead Major Fitch screaming over the crowd at an officer from the infantry unit that had invaded their position.

Town people gathered in little clusters around the perimeter of the chaos, watching with their weary, blank eyes and wrapped in thick shawls and wool coats. Most of them just kept to themselves, sometimes they'd grumble about these 'damn yanks bringing the war to our peaceful town', according to Elaine's translation. But there were a few friendly natives who lent their services. The local priest had gone to school in America as a boy and sat with the men and just chit-chatted with them. His passion for American baseball kept them all quite entertained. The town midwife helped with the laundry and also sat with the men. Rose liked the older woman a great deal. She reminded Rose of Lena with her quick wit and tough-as-nails attitude, but she was kindly and had an instant soothing touch with her wrinkled, soft hands. She'd become an adopted grandmother, or even mother to those who actually had hair on their face. They called her "Ma'ma Marie".

Rose pushed back her helmet that had always been too big for her and continued her frantic search. There were just so many people, she didn't know where to look first. However, by the grace of god, she spotted a familiar head of blond hair sticking out from under a military-green blanket on a litter headed for the back of a truck. Rose got tunnel vision. He sore, swollen feet ran across the snowy yard and skidded to a halt on a small patch of ice just as the litter carriers were about to hoist his body into the transport truck.

"Wait!" she cried out the to sergeant and the private who faces where obscured by the scraps of what looked like a torn fatigue sweaters and long johns wrapped around their necks.

Rose's already frozen hands rested on the side of the stretcher and her heart sunk to her toes when she found the private's eyes to be softly closed. She figured he'd slipped back out of consciousness. Rose suddenly felt very selfish for wanting him to see her, for wanting him to know it had been her who'd saved him. She was just one of thousands of medics who saved hundreds of lives a day. It was her job. She couldn't remember, and had already forgotten, many of the men she'd treated. Why did she think she deserved to be remembered?

"Lieutenant…" the sergeant said hurriedly. "We got to get going…"

Rose felt her chin quiver as her sad brown eyes looked up at the bundled up soldier. He was right. It was cold and they had a long and dangerous drive and every second she stood there, she put everyone's life in danger. Rose dropped her hands away from the litter and was about to take a step back when she was suddenly locked in the gaze of the clearest, bluest eyes she'd ever seen in her life.

"Ma'am…" Private Butler hoarsely whispered.

Rose all but fell to her knees next the waking soldier.

"Hold on!" she cried out to the rightly so impatient litter carriers.

She reached down and gently placed a hand on his shoulder with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Private…" she smiled. "I have to say this conversation has been long over-due."

The private closed his eyes and smiled so weakly it was almost unidentifiable.

"Ma'am…you are the only think I remember since I got hit…" he mumble tiredly.

Rose felt a sharp intake of air burn the insides of her throat and lungs.

"Thank you…" he whispered with his near white lips, opening his eyes only slightly enough for Rose to see tiny slivers of his blue eyes.

Rose squatted down closer to him and squeezed his hand.

"You are very welcome." She smiled, fighting her hardest to hold back the tears by rolling her lips and swallowing a million times.

"How am I ever going to repay you, Lieutenant…?" he asked, straining to looking at her. "Can I ask you you're name ma'am?"

"Beyer…Rosemary Beyer…" she answered with a sigh. "You can repay me by getting better and don't you die anytime soon because by god, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself…"

The private weakly chuckled, but cringed in pain because to the movement.

"Yes, ma'am…"

"Ma'am…" the deep voiced sergeant spoke again. "I'm sorry, we have got to get him on the bus…"

Rose looked up, catching a glint of pity in his obscured eyes, and nodded solemnly. She squeezed Butler's had one last time. He'd closed his eyes again in utter exhaustion, but Rose could feel his weak fingers tighten around hers. She let out a shaky sigh and let go before stepping back.

In less than a second and a slam of a door, he was gone…

"Rose?" Annie's voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Rose looked over her shoulder and found the blond nurse smiling at her sympathetically. She stepped forward and wrapping a caring arm around the shorter woman's shoulder. Rose felt her body weakly sink against her friend's for support. Had they not been in the middle of a crowed, busy. Military operation, Rose would have collapsed into Annie's arms and cried like a fool. Rose had too many emotions running through her mind that she could hardly comprehend what she was feeling for sure. Instead, she just stood there until Annie gave her a final squeeze and let go. The two didn't need to say anything to each other. They were both nurse's who'd been in this for a long time to understand what Rose was feeling.

Rose gave one last look at the retreating truck and turned back to the school with Annie following suit. However, something across the yard caught her attention and stopped her in her tracks.

"What on earth..." Rose softly exclaimed and grasped the Annie's sleeve to halt her as well.

Captain Woods stood across the square with his gear slung over his shoulder, glaring at Rose as if he was trying to kill her with looks alone. Rose only glared back with phrases going through her head that if they'd been spoken old loud, would have made a sailor blush. Suddenly a Jeep pulled up behind him and unceremoniously blared its horn at him. Woods nearly jumped out of his skin before his turned away from Rose's deathly stare and threw his bag into the back.

Rose's jaw suddenly dropped when the reality of the situation dawned on her. He was leaving. How could he be leaving at a time like this? As bad as he was as a surgeon, they needed every person in the unit.

"Where's he going?" Rose asked, pulling her coat tighter around her thin frame. Annie had dragged her out before she could grab her scarf and the blustery wind was cutting through her light jacket like a knife and chilling her to the bone.

"What? Don't you know?" Annie exclaimed.

Rose looked up at Annie's astonished face and shook her head. Rose apparently had missed something during her much needed nap.

"Know what?" she exclaimed back, equally confused.

"He's been transferred out of the unit…"

"What…" Rose looked back over the Jeep with her brow's furrowed and watched Wood's settle his lanky, uncoordinated body in to the front seat.

"He smarted off to Charlie and Major Fitch during his meeting." Annie told her and then leaned down and whispered in the nurse's ear. "I'm not supposed to know this, but the Colonel instigated a full letter of reprimand and Wood is looking at a court martial for dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming. Major Fitch heard him threaten you outside the OR."

Rose was floored, but at the same time a slight feeling of satisfaction started bubbling up in to her chest. The Jeep across the yard roared to life and the driver jammed the gears, nearly making Wood's fly out of his seat. As the vehicle made the loop around the square, it passed the two nurses. Wood's cold eyes locked with Rose's. She felt her body stiffen up and instead of cowering, she threw back her shoulders and lifted her chin so she could look down her nose at the discredited doctor. Technically, Rose was supposed to salute the man, but Rose also knew that officers didn't salute those who were inferior to them…

* * *

The conference with Strayer ended up taking only a few minutes. However, it had been long enough to sour what little of a good mood Dick had been in before. Strayer more than soured it, he knocked it over the back of the head, spat on it, and kicked dirt in its face. Dick had just been ripped up one side and down the other by the stout, little Colonel.

One of Foxes platoon leaders had misunderstood a patrol order his company commander had delegated to him because that commander had misinterpreted the orders that Dick had given him, and the results had been disastrous. The company's third platoon had lost half its men and given up a great deal of dirt that they'd fought hard for just the other day. Sink was livid and had given Strayer an earful, which he then passed along down the line to Dick.

Even though he knew he'd explained the orders clearly and competently, Dick felt at fault, and it made him mad. He was more than mad, he was downright pissed off. Dick didn't like being yelled at, especially when he didn't deserve it. But what upset Dick more than the earful he'd gotten was that instead of punishing the proper offenders, Dick had been the scapegoat for absolutely no reason. He'd always strived to do his best and fulfill his duties as best at the situation allowed him to. Dick knew Strayer's plan was flawed when he'd given it to him, so Dick made a few changes that where for the better. When Foxes commander misunderstood Dick, and the platoon leader botched the operation, Strayer found out about the Captain's amendments and was livid.

Maybe if Strayer actually took the time to see what the real situation was, he would have understood the changes, Dick angrily mustered in his head and he stalked away from the Lt. Colonel.

Dick pulled on his thin gloves and prepared to leave the warm haven of the CP. Dick placed his helmet on his head and gave the CP one last glance around. His mouth tugged to the side in annoyance before he stepped out of the building and promptly retrieved his M1, still bearing it's solitary round, that laid in the corner of the doorway. He looked across the devastated square that was a mess of piled stone, splintered timbers, dirty snow and abandoned vehicles. Natives of Bastogne carefully stepped their way through the piles of their once beautiful, quaint town, all with sagged shoulders and downcast eyes. Dick had learned a long time ago to not let himself think about what those people were going through. If he did, he'd start seeing his family members and friends' faces on those war weary civilians. Even though times were hard back in home, Americans would never truly know hard times like those people.

As one of those war-weary civilian's walked by Dick, the old man looked at him and nodded in acknowledgement with an appreciative smile. Normally, Dick would have tipped his helmet to the man, but this time, he was too preoccupied with resentment to even look at him. The Captain brushed by the man and stepped down the crumbling steps of the CP on to the broken cobblestone sidewalk.

"Dick?" Lewis's voice called over the roar of another jeep that flew by in the slushy street.

Dick looked up to see him and Harry already situated in the Jeep awaiting to take them back to the line. He tucked the collar of his thin jacket back around his neck and stepped towards his comrades.

"Damn, I hope Taylor's enjoying Washington…" Harry groused as he adjusted the various pieces of equipment strapped to his body so he could sit more comfortably in the backseat.

"For such a little guy, you sure take up a lot of room." Lewis whined as he eased himself down next to the Lieutenant.

Height definitely had its privileges as Dick seated himself into the front seat and easily stretched out his legs to the floorboard. However, it also had its drawbacks. The biting wind felt like a leather belt across the face. Dick motioned to the driver and pulled his scarf further up against his pale face. The Jeep roared to life as the driver put it in gear and the officers were pushed back against their hard seats.

"How'd it go with Strayer?" Lewis hollered up to Dick over the whipping wind.

Dick didn't answer the other Captain. He just sat there with his arms wrapped around himself against the cold and simmered.

Lewis turned to Harry with an eyebrow quirked. Harry cringed and shrugged his shoulders. Lewis never let the bureaucracy of rank get to him unlike Dick. He'd gotten himself promoted out of Easy early enough before he really had to deal with the whole Sobel debacle, so he guess he could understand why Dick was so sensitive to chicken-shit officers. He had also learned to deal with everything by keeping his blood pressure down and a healthy dose of Vat 69.

They whipped throw the slushy, pothole (most caused by artillery shells) filled streets at breakneck speed. Dick gazed unfocusedly at the passing buildings as he continued to belittle the incompetent officers in his head. The Jeep slowed down slightly as the driver navigated his way through the jammed up square in front of the church that served as their only aid station. Dick tightened his grip on the seat as the Jeep weaved in and out of the stumbling wounded and piles of debris. All three officers suddenly braced themselves as they screeched to a halt for another Jeep that suddenly came to a stop right in front of them. He muttered some curse words under his breath and was about to tell off both drivers for their erratic driving.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Dick saw something in a secluded doorway on the side of the church that made his forget what he was about to say. A soldier was standing in that doorway with petite, body wrapped in a passionate embrace. Dick caught the medic's white and red arm band of his sleeve and the delicate hand of a woman clenching it. Dick couldn't move, he just stared at the scene before his eyes with his jaw clenched in both anger and shock. He didn't hear the driver called out curses to the occupants of the other vehicle, he only saw the couple in the doorway. Suddenly, they broke their embrace and the medic lifted his head away from the Belgian nurse…the face Dick saw was a face as recognizable as his own mother's. It was Doc Roe…

However, before Dick could comprehend what had taken place before his eyes, the driver's punched the accelerator and was in fourth gear before Dick could blink. The secluded alleyway disappeared from his line of sight. Dick twisted around in his seat and looked back at the other occupants to see if maybe they'd witnessed the indiscretion as well. But Harry was rubbing his face with his hand as he let out a loud yawn and Lewis was occupied searching in one of the pockets of his fatigue jacket. Both seemed unperturbed and unaware. Dick's eyes looked past their helmet covered heads and in the distance he saw a figure emerge from the alleyway with a medic's bag on his hip.

* * *

Well, I know it's not much considering how long you've all been waiting for this. I just finally decided to take the day and sit down and write. In a few weeks, things will hopefully slow down and I will have much more free time (that is if I survive this whole maid of honor gig). Thank you all for waiting and I'll try not to let nearly six months pass again before I post anything. I just seem to hit road blocks in this story every now and then. I have the other side written already, but building that bridge in between can be quite tricky sometimes. I hope you all will stay with me. Reading your reviews truly helps me stay motivated!


	16. Chapter 16 Missed Chances

Hello…here be another chapter for you're reading pleasure. I'll try my hardest to keep turning new chapters. It's yet again a busy semester the merry land of college, but I'm doing my best to write every spare moment I get. I can't make any promises when I'll get the next chapter up, but I can promise I will finish this story, so please stick with me. I promise too that things move along much faster after the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Everything was quiet…far too quiet for Rose's taste, but she wasn't about to complain about it.

Rose titled her head back and let the lukewarm sprinkle of water splash onto her face from the corroded shower head and cascade down her bare body. If she'd been able to, she would have stood there for hours until her fingers and toes shriveled up like raisins, but she only had ten minutes before the school washroom was descended on by the remaining gender of the medical unit. It wasn't quite as lavish as her last bathing experience with the claw foot tub and white marble walls, but it did make the woman feel like she was living in the correct century again. She had been the last to finally enjoy the luxury and was the only one left in the room, but she didn't mind. The typical shower tent chitchat wasn't always intelligent conversation that she neither cared to listen to or join in on, though warmer water may have been a reasonable trade off.

Rose leaned over and picked up a half gone bar of scentless, off-white soap and lathered up some suds into a thin wash cloth. She hastily scrubbed the bits of dried blood flecked on her pale neck and the smudged ink stains on the outside of her palm. She hoped the grotesque stench of infected flesh that she'd been subjected to the day before would wash away as well.

The unit had somehow made it through the chaos and many patients had been evacuated off to better facilities and hopefully to better recoveries. It was almost like someone flipped a switch and the place went from unimaginable pandemonium to quieter than a school house in July. She should have been used to it by now. The staff's work load had dramatically decreased in the matter of hours. There wasn't anything that that absolutely needed to be done besides the regular evening rounds for the few dozen soldiers who had come in that morning with non-fatal injuries. The new supplies had all been squared away, the bed sheets had all been washed and replaced, the OR floor scrubbed, inventories taken, and Mildred had even given out her weekly reaming to Elaine. All that had been completed before lunch. It was against the unwritten rules to announce, let alone think it, but Rose was bored…

Chaos and adrenaline had become a fixture in the nurse's life, almost like a drug and her withdrawal was down time. She always was more productive when under the wire. She had three generations of farming blood to thank for that. It seemed like there was always something that had to be done before dinner, ran to town before the bank closed, or hay to be made before the rain fell. They were the masters of the last-minute, her Aunt Alice always would say. Rose needed to have a deadline in order to actually get things done. It wasn't that she procrastinated, she just needed to feel that sense of urgency lingering over her head to get the motivation. Maybe that's why she and the Army seemed to get along so well. Orders were orders, not suggestions or favors, and they needed to be completed twenty minutes ago.

However, the hurry up and wait attitude of the institution seemed a bit hypocritical to Rose. If they didn't have you working your fingers to the bone, you were twiddling their thumbs, but if you were caught doing the latter, they found something to send you back to the former. The Beyer children learned very early in their new home to never say they were bored, especially in ear shot of Lena. They also learned how to look busy, a skill they picked up from Karl. Rose found that ability to be very helpful in the Nurse Corps. It kept her from being volunteered for many bed pan rounds or other unpleasant and menial duties.

However, bar the boredom, the down time was productive in other ways. Just as the saying went, they made hay while the sun shined. Rose made sure all her nurses had their turn in the large washroom to take care of some much needed hygiene. Although most of them agreed that'd they'd rather see their male counter parts first in line, Rose knew better. She'd lived with her brothers long enough to know that having to endure their body odor for a few more hours was far better than having to deal with the mess they would had left in the washroom.

It was a decision she was quite glad she made as she shut off the water and combed through her soaked hair with her fingers.

Rose grabbed her towel off the hook and wrapped it around her body before stepping out of the shower. The building they had overtaken wasn't just a school, it was the place all the rich French aristocrats sent their spoiled children to get them out of their hair. Though it had been abandoned for some time, the building still demonstrated all its grandeur under the layers of dust and cobwebs. It made Rose think of what the unkempt mansion in Great Expectations would have looked like. Rose looked around the large room with wistful eyes as she dried her hair. Her one room school house back home had a hand cranked water pump and an outhouse that liked to attract squirrels and big hairy spiders that boys loved to catch and terrorize the girls with.

She quickly dried herself off, but not fast enough to ward off the goose bumps that almost immediately formed on her pale skin. She tucked the corner of her towel snuggly under her armpit to hold it up. Rose had never had much of a bust to begin with and her latest nutritional plan wasn't helping her cause. She could hardly fill out the darts in her Class A's even before all this happened. Whoever designed the female's uniform clearly hadn't taken those who were less fortunate in to account. She raked her fingers through her wet hair and went over to the cobbled-up clothes line that was strung across the washroom. She yanked off the only remaining undergarments that also had 'Beyer' written on a scrap of paper folded over the line. Rose couldn't afford to put her entire uniform out of commission so she just spot washed the dark brown bloodstains off of the olive-drab trousers and jacket the best she could earlier in the day.

It always amazed Rose how something as simple as clean hair and clean clothes could do wonders for the moral. Rose wasn't sure who was more thankful, the woman, or the men who had to deal with the cantankerous females. The men had another thing to be thankful about. By whatever strange and unknown phenomena of nature, Mother Nature seemed to bestow her gift to all the nurses of the unit at once and that siege seemed to have finally been broken.

A part of Rose was thankful that she wasn't a part of that club that required a monthly membership payment. However, missing out on it also meant she was missing out on the one thing that Rose had most wanted to be someday…a mother. Even though she was a rebellious tomboy who chased chickens and picked up garden snakes, she did plan on being having children someday. Not only was it just what every little girl planned on doing someday, Rose felt as though she needed to make up for her dreadful childhood, that she needed to prove something to her own mother. However, her chances were ruined before she even could give it a shot.

Only a handful of people knew about her condition, and only two of which whom she'd chosen to tell. Annie had been one of them simply because the fertile nurse had been complaining about her monthly cramps and asked Rose if she had any advice to quell them and Rose had to explain why she couldn't relate. Likewise, Rose had never intended on telling Dick. It wasn't exactly something one divulged to a person they only planned on knowing for 48 hours, but she had let it slip that first night. Then again, she hadn't exactly been thinking very rationally that entire weekend and she was only thinking about one thing when she blurted it out.

Her time in Paris was starting to feel less like a memory and more like one of those odd, vivid dreams that she couldn't seem to forget. Piece by piece, the details of those memories were starting to disintegrate. Details that she'd previously been able to recall without hesitation where turning into vague accumulations that described a whole. It was like looking into one of those brain teasers with all the little bits of seemingly random colors and shapes that actually formed a larger picture, only Rose's eyes could immediately focus on the larger picture and look right past the details.

Unless, she really took the time to concentrate on that picture and made her eyes squint out those details. The last few days had been too busy to allow herself that time and effort. She didn't want to forget, yet she couldn't allow herself to remember. There were too many more important things besides recalling those two nights that she needed to use her head for. But a mind is sometimes like a Rube Goldberg machine, one chain reaction after another of random and unseeingly related thoughts suddenly found Rose the time for recalling a fading memory…

"_Here we are…" Rose pursed her lips as she carefully fished out a sepia photo with a torn corner from a leather billfold she retrieved out of her issued satchel. _

_She held the precious picture daintily in her finger tips and crossed the wood floor and the worn carpet back to the bed. She hiked up the hem of her loosely tied robe as she climbed onto the bed and rejoined the occupant who had remained with the covers pulled over his hips. Dick proceeded to pull his torso up with his arms and prop himself up against the headboard, but he strained with the unstable mattress caused by Rose's added weight and movement. The nurse couldn't help but stare for a moment as the muscles in his bare chest flexed and bulged in the warm lamp light. _

_Rose had likely seen over a thousand naked men of all shapes and sizes in the last few years. Working in the hospital unit was about like looking through a Sears-Roebucks catalog. With the amount and diversity of men, a woman could simply decide on the height, weight, eye and hair color, and religion she wanted and it was very likely she'd find a match, if not two or three. The Lieutenant had gotten over the involuntary reaction ogle at those male specimens of perfection that came under her care, especially when those sculpted bodies were full of holes and squirting out blood. However, Dick reminded her, quite quickly, of how that breathless, tingling feeling in her stomach felt like. He wasn't overly muscular to the point of gaudy, nor was he spindly and thin. He had just the right about of mass in all the right places._

_Rose, realizing she was gawking, quickly ducked her pining eyes away before Dick noticed her starring. What she didn't see was the self-satisfied, little smirk that tugged at the corners of the fit Captain's lips when he caught a glimpse of the nurse's reddening cheeks. All those morning runs and sit-ups were paying off with something else besides combat effectiveness. _

_Rose laid down on her side next to him and placed her head on his shoulder. Dick wrapped that arm around her satin covered body and pulled her against snuggly against him. Both noticed, but neither could bring themselves to comment on how well their bodies seemed to fit together as Rose draped her leg over his thigh and held up the picture in front of his face. _

_Dick carefully took the well loved photo from her protective finger tips and angled it towards the light. A handsome couple stood next to a large, dapple horse in a harness. They were in a house yard with basket ball sized hydrangea blooms and a white framed, screened in porch in the background. The man, Rose's father Joseph, had his hand up in the horse's mane. He was tall with suspenders stretched over broad, strong shoulders. The rolled up sleeves of his work shirt exposed biceps that looked like they belonged on a heavy weight boxer. He had a strong, sculpted Scandinavian face with a rounded, strong jaw and hooded eyes. His thick boyish, blond hair was blown back by the wind. Joe Beyer looked youthful and lively physically, yet in his eyes, Dick saw a maturity and wisdom that came from a man who'd experienced both the good and bad of life. He'd seen the same look in the young faces of his fellow soldiers and in his own reflection. _

_Held easily up in Joe's strong arms was a little boy with white, sun-bleached hair squinting against the brightness._

"_That's Henry." Rose pointed to the boy. "And that one who looks like he's about 35…" Rose pointed to the stern looking boy standing on the other side of the draft horse with his arms crossed over the front of his overalls and the brim of his hat obscuring his eyes. "That's my oldest brother Carlyle…"_

"_Hmmm…" Dick chuckled. "Good looking kids…" His eyes scanned over the males of the Beyer clan for another moment before they settled on the other side where Dick saw an almost hauntingly familiar female looking back at him._

_Rose couldn't look more like her mother than if she had tried. Rose was about the same age as Helen in the photo and the resemblance was uncanny. Her mother had the same dark, thick hair and delicate featured face, though she was a bit shorter and finer boned than her daughter. Her arms and hands were slender and small whereas Dick had actually been surprised by Rose's toned and muscular body. In Helen's arms was a healthy, chubby toddler wearing a little dress and a floppy bonnet. Rosemary's thick arm was reaching out to grasp Joe's sleeve with her little fingers, looking as if she was jealous of her brothers and wanted to be in father's arms instead._

"_My god, you look just like your mother…" Dick turned and looked at her with a crooked smirk on his lips._

_Rose looked up into his playful, blue eyes and felt her heart melt from the inside out from the look he was giving her, which seemed to warping into something else beyond admiration. She looked away before she fell under his spell and reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear as she studied the picture that she didn't need to look at to know every single detail._

"_You really think so?" she earnestly questioned and slid her open hand out across his chest, unable to resist the need to get as close to him as possible._

_She'd been told the same thing by several different people, but she always figured it was just something people said because she was the only daughter. Rose knew she had her mother's brown hair and eyes, but looking in the mirror she certainly didn't see a ghost looking back at her. The face of her mother that she most remembered was an overly done-up, thin, pale, and drawn down with a fearful look of dread. _

_In the five years that Helen lived after Joe died, she was always looking over her shoulder, being the victim of both anxiety and spousal attacks, and fainting from low blood sugar. In the picture Dick held in his hands was how Rose wished she could remember her mother. She was smiling a cunning little smile and she looked so healthy and happy standing there proudly by Joe's side. Carlyle, who was old enough to remember as well as understand, said that her mother may have been killed in that car accident, but her soul and spirit had died the day they put Joe in the ground. _

_Rose used to resent her mother for being such a weakling, for giving up instead of fighting. Even before Joe died, Helen was very soft spoken, but that characteristic evolved into complete helplessness soon afterwards. Her daughter was the complete opposite just out of spite, but when Rose grew older and starting experiencing it herself, she started to understand how so much heartbreak could wear on a person's soul. Helen simply gave up on life and everyone in it. She was out of her wits after Joe died and the bank kicked them off the farm. She turned down Karl and Lena's offer to move in with them, something nobody ever understood why. She married Arnold Peterson out of desperation, but things only got worse for his new trophy wife and her children. Rose remembered her mother sleeping a lot and when she was up, she was always ingesting some tonic from a thick brown bottle she'd bought of a snake oil salesmen that was supposed to improve her mood. Unfortunately, such a deep state of depression took more than corn syrup and whiskey to cure. _

_Rose often wondered if that car accident that ended that sordid chapter of her life had really been an accident. Arnold had driven that same bend in the road nearly every night in some state of inebriation and made it home in one piece. No one would ever know for sure, but the thought gave her only daughter a bit of peace of mind that maybe Helen did finally put up a fight…and won, for both her and her children._

"_If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that was you in this with your husband and kids…" Dick slyly answered looking back at the photo. _

_Dick felt her body shake against him in a silent chuckle, but when he looked down at her he saw that same forlorn look that he'd seen the day before on the park bench. Dick suddenly felt like a ten pound hammer hit him in the heart and a grimace settled onto his face. He had completely forgotten about striking that sensitive nerve with the amazing day they'd had together, and he'd just ruined it. A silence quickly filled the room, one so heavy that it almost seemed to suppress the words Dick wanted to get out of his throat. _

"_I…I'm sorry Rose…" his voice rumbled out of his chest softly. "I forgot…"_

_Rose felt the pinch in her chest tighten and twist down in her stomach. He remembered, well, for the most part. However, she wasn't sure whether she pleasantly surprised or mortified. The nurse shifted against his body and noticed that he had become tense and uncomfortable, but hers had done the same thing. Rose took a in a shaky, shallow breath and closed her eyes. She hadn't forgotten about divulging a close guarded secret in the throes of passion. After all, it was Rose's infertility that was allowing them to carry on their fraternization with no reservations. She thought about it every time and she hoped that he didn't think she had just blurted it so that he wouldn't stop. But then again, if he'd had his doubts and worried about getting her in to 'trouble' or having to take a visit to the prophylactic station, they would have had this conversation several longing glances and popped buttons ago. _

"_Don't worry about it, Dick." she indifferently shrugged his innocent statement off. He hadn't meant anything by it. Rose was actually upset with herself for reacting the way she did in front of the perceptive Captain. Rose took a deep breath and repositioned her cheek against his shoulder, hoping the stifling air of awkwardness would soon clear out._

_However, the instigator didn't let his untimely joke go. His curiosity had been gnawing at his insides ever since she accidently blurted her bareness out. However, asking her so had to be twenty times worse than asking a woman her weight. Dick chewed on the inside of his cheek for several moments as he worked up the courage. What a man, he thought to himself. He'd been through two of the roughest campaigns of the ETO and thrown himself into dangerous situations without a second thought, yet he couldn't ask a woman a simple question. He needed to get up out of his foxhole and just ask her. He would probably get shot down in the process, but it was a risk he had to take._

"_Rose…" he whispered into her hair, his hand around her hip sliding up to her waist before returning to its former place in a gentle stroke._

"_Hmmm?" she murmured back, still staring at the photo, thinking for the millionth time about the fact that she'd never be in a family photo like that._

_Dick nuzzled her temple for a few moments as he thought about the way he was going to approach this inquiry._

"_What happened…" he asked point blank. "How do you know that…" his voice suddenly trailed off. The decorated Captain's fortitude failed him as rapidly he'd mustered it up._

_Rose opened her eyes again and looked back up at the photo still in Dick's hands, taking her turn of speechlessness as she laid there listening to his heart echo against his chest wall. _

_Dick swallowed anxiously, regretting that he'd even broached the subject. The day had been spent ignoring anything that wasn't enjoyable and Dick had just broken the streak. However, retreating from this battle wasn't as easy._

"_You don't have to…" he started to say._

_"When I was 20…" Rose cut in and Dick snapped his mouth shut, knowing he'd already said to much and it was his turn to listen. _

"_I just…just didn't feel right and I had a sharp pain, right about here" Dick's eyes flickered down to the concave spot just between the point of her hip and her belly button her hand was resting on. "...they thought I had appendicitis, they were even ready to open me up…but then the pain stopped…and…well, so did my monthly cycles…" Rose paused, hoping he was at least somewhat familiar with female reproductive functions. _

_Dick looked down at her with his soft eyes that seemed free of confusion and Rose gave him a half-hearted smile and shrug. _

"_The doctor said my ovaries stopped functioning properly and because of that I rarely menstruate…which means I can't conceive." She ended the phrase with a sarcastic-cheeriness._

_Before her words could even sink in, she sat up and reached for the photo still in Dick's idle fingers. His hand resting on her robe-clad hip reluctantly slid down past the small of her back to the warm sheets her body once occupied as she sat up and returned her picture to its place between the folds of leather. Rose didn't want to look him in the eyes because she was extremely downplaying the severity of the steps it took to reach that diagnosis. The entire experience had been a great deal more complicated and painful then she was letting him to believe, but Rose knew that the woman's life he'd inadvertently chosen to get involved with was already enough of a Greek tragedy, she didn't want to dish more onto his plate. _

_She noticed things going wrong her last year of college. Rose started getting horrendous cramps that doubled her over. It felt like someone had stabbed a knife through her gut and twisted it. Usually, it only happened during her period, but then there started to be less and less time that she wasn't in pain. At first, she merely blamed it on being extremely stressed with finals, and student teaching. Henry had also broken his arm late that winter. The farm was short of help and struggling more than ever to make ends meet and Rose felt guilty that she wasn't around to help. It was also the spring she turned down that marriage proposal, but the pain continued after all that had passed. Rose hid it from everyone except Molly partially because she knew her grandparents couldn't afford an expensive doctor visit, but mostly because she was ashamed and afraid that her previous indiscretions were the cause. She suffered for months until Lena found her curled up in her bed sobbing from the pain one night just after she graduated. _

_Despite Rose's protests and knowledge of the subject, the local doctor was determined that Rose had appendicitis and scheduled an operation. Rose had been through many harrowing situations in the war, but she had never been more scared and fearful for her life than that night as she sat there waiting for them to put her under so they could cut her open. She knew he was wrong, but what scared Rose more was not knowing what else it could have been. _

_By the grace of god, the pain suddenly stopped when Rose felt a funny 'pop' in her belly and after some observation, they sent her home. She felt better, but as the months went by she noticed she had stopped cycling. The doctor told her that whatever caused her all that pain stopped her ovaries from working. He told her as Lena sat with her that the likelihood of her ever becoming pregnant was a one in a million chance. Rose tried doing her own research because she didn't trust the old, stuffy doctor, but the female body was still taboo in the medical world and there just wasn't anything to explain her symptoms._

_The captain watched the nurse sit there on the sheet, facing away from him and playing with the end of her robe tie. His bare chest rose as he took in a deep, breath and sighed. He wanted to say something, but what? He couldn't even imagine what she'd had gone through, let alone comment on the situation. He sat up and twisted his torso so he could lean against her back. He propped up his body up with his arm and snaked his left hand around her middle._

"_I see…" he murmured into her ear, not knowing what else he could possibly say besides that, and inwardly cringed at the stupidity of the words he'd just uttered. _

_Rose turned her head towards his and peered up into his eyes. Dick was the first man she'd ever told, let alone been involved, since she learned her fate. For awhile, Rose blamed the men in her life for why she wasn't pursuing any serious relationships, but that wasn't the real reason. She'd turned down many good-husband candidates because she asked herself the same question every time she let someone near her heart._

_What man would knowingly marry a woman who couldn't give him a child? _

_She guessed that was the Freudian reason she remained unmarried and why it was so easy for her to resist the temptation of all the men she was surrounded by. She couldn't bring herself to lie, nor could she go through the scrutiny of being a motherless wife. That reason was also why her current fling with Dick was working out so perfectly. After tomorrow, it would be over. She wouldn't have to worry about lingering doubts or feelings. She didn't have to feel the burden or the scrutinizing by his family when she couldn't produce an heir for their only son. The two officers simply couldn't be together, both logistically and lawfully. Besides, they'd already discussed the uncertainly of what this war could bring._

_Rose waited and looked deeply into his eyes, almost baiting him to say something more. Everyone else, even Lena, had expressed their sympathy, because they all assumed that Rose wanted to talk about it. Their unsolicited advice only made her realize all that couldn't be done, all she was going to miss out on…it just made her feel worse. She waited for him to start digging a hole like everyone else had before him._

_But she should have given him the benefit of the doubt because he just sat there without saying a single word. She didn't find a trace of pity, empathy maybe, but she didn't feel like any less of a woman in his eyes. Not a single word came out of his mouth, but what he told her with his eyes and the comforting hand protectively wrapped around her body was the best response she could have ever hoped for. Rose felt her chest swell in appreciation and that familiar tingling deep in her belly as her admiration for the man behind her nearly exploded. She leaned into his chest and tipped her head back. Dick met her movement as he leaned down and kissed her sweetly._

"_Thank you…" she whispered against his lips when they broke the kiss._

_Dick furrowed his brows and gave her a funny smirk._

"_For what?" he asked befuddled. _

"_Nothing…" she responded with a smile. _

_Even if she knew how to explain her gratitude, Rose didn't want him to have to burden of trying to understand it._

Suddenly, a loud ruckus and boisterous male laughter came up through the floor register and reminded her that if she didn't get dressed soon she'd have to add a whole platoon she could add to that list of one who'd seen her out of uniform. Rose quickly shook the lingering memories out of her head before others regarding the rest of that night found their way in and hastily finished dressing. She thanked God for the supply convoy's healthy stock of long underwear and fatigue sweaters. Rose also had a brand new wool coat hanging on her bedpost. Things were finally turning out to be not quite so miserable.

She gathered the rest of her things and left the washroom, making sure to relieve as well as thank Rita for her sentry duty. The majority of personnel in the unit where all pretty well behaved, but there were a few pranksters that the nurses had quickly learned to watch out for. The two walked together and discussed the book Rita had been reading for a few minutes until the stout woman parted ways with her at the stairs. Rose went up to the dorms and she wasn't in the door for three seconds when Annie caught up to her.

"There you are!" Annie exclaimed like an older sister scolding a wayward sibling. "I've been looking for you because Elaine needs help moving the piano and I've been trying to convince Private Amacher to make some pies or cakes, but he claims he has no sugar but Charlie swore he saw a few bags just the other day and I know for a fact they brought more flour and Judith doesn't know…"

"Whoa, there…" Rose threw up her hands to stop Annie before she was blown back on her behind by the cowgirl's onslaught of breathless ramblings. Rose squeezed her eyes and shook her head as if trying to reset her brain. "Back up...why does Elaine need help moving the piano?" she asked with a raised brow.

"Well, to take into the auditorium of course…I know we don't have that many patients in house right now, but we certainly aren't going to fit everyone in that music room." Annie's hands waved as she spoke like she was directing that piano in for a landing.

"I see… " Rose answered hesitantly, still uncertain why they needed the piano. "What's the occasion? The German's surrender or something?" she wistfully kidded and wiped the remaining dampness from her face.

"Well, that would certainly make the celebrations all the merrier if they did…" Annie smiled and crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned against the doorway. But her face fell from playful mockery into a frown when she realized Rose just wasn't getting it. "Rose…it's Christmas Eve…"

Rose peaked from behind her rough towel, with furrowed brows. She quickly added up the days in her head and her jaw dropped when her calculations did in fact match with Annie's statement. Rose dropped the towel from her face and looked down at it, as if it held all the answers of the universe.

"My God…it is." Rose softly exclaimed both wondrously and reasonably humiliated.

How on earth could a person forget about Christmas? She'd written the date nearly a hundred times every day the past few weeks. How did she not make the connection? Rose had actually been looking forward to the forthcoming celebration at their previous position. Annie had been the curator of the holiday festivities and if event planning was a qualifying merit for a medal, Annie should have had four of them. She'd put together a choir and was leading the charge in decoration making. Corporal Flint and a wounded Private from the Engineer Corps had gone out and commandeered a pine tree from some French aristocrats lawn. It was a pretty tree as long as one didn't look at the blackened trunk and lower branches from the explosives they used to 'cut' it down.

Rose put down the towel and reached to pull back the heavy blackout curtain to look out the frosted over window of the dorm. She wasn't entirely sure what she was searching for, but whatever it was, she didn't find it in the snow covered streets. There were no wreathes hung on the lamp posts, nor any store fronts bustling with excitement as hopeful children crowed around the glowing display of cherry red tin trains and blue eyed baby dolls. The only thing in Rose's immediate line of sight was a green Jeep covered in dirty, grey, road snow.

"Doesn't really feel like Christmas…" she mumbled forlornly with a sigh as she squinted to make out the church steeple in the distances that should have been ringing before dropping the drape back in its place.

Rose hadn't had a real Christmas in three years. She'd been fortunate to make it home for New Years during training to celebrate a belated Christmas with her family, but since then holiday celebrations had been nothing more than a few tone death Christmas carols and a care box full of stale cookies that arrived in February. Christmas in Tunisia had been celebrated with 157 wounded men and Rose getting a finger sliced by a shaky-handed and fatigued surgeon in a Captain's perforated intestine. She was on antibiotics for two weeks after that and the Captain didn't make it.

They tried putting her in for a Purple Heart since it was an injury sustained in a war zone while performing her duties, but Rose refused the submission, claiming it wasn't an injury incurred by enemy hands. Besides, her inch long cut that only took three stitches would have been an insult to the men who came in with their lives and limps hanging on by a thread. Her second Army Yuletide experience had been spent sacked out on in a swinging cot, knocked out on tranquilizers after spending disgusting three hours in the lavatory burning away her taste buds with stomach acid on a ship to Scotland from Morocco.

Annie reached over and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Well, we're going to do the best we can to make it feel like Christmas." the endlessly chipper woman smiled. "And don't feel too foolish…you weren't the only one who forgot about it."

Rose gave a modest shrug and quirked her mouth in understated embarrassment. Annie continued to lay out the evening's plans as Rose dug out her walnut and boar hair brush that had been her mothers and pulled back her hair.

"Father Bechman is giving a mass at five and then after supper Elaine is going to play some carols, that is if were ever get it pushed down the hall. That thing's a beast…" Annie rambled on.

Rose thought about her family back home. It wasn't even morning there yet with the time difference, but when they did get up, they'd still have to take care of the morning chores like any other day. But afterwards, Lena would make them a special breakfast of smoked sausages from the hogs they'd raised and butchered earlier in the fall and pancakes with real maple syrup sent to them from their relatives up in the North Woods. She'd then spend the rest of the day slapping Henry and Karl's hands away from the cooling racks full of mince pie, ginger bread cookies, and homemade candies meant for the next days celebrations. Later that night they'd pile in a pew down at St. John's the Baptist for Christmas Eve mass and after suffering through the stiff backs and shushing Carlyle's rowdy and impatient children, the whole crew would return home to hot chocolate and Karl's summer-made stash of blackberry wine and hard apple cider. They'd all sip their drinks and eat treats while they told funny stories and played games.

Rose felt a little pinch in her heart as she dwelled on the tradition. Everybody missed their families back home more than ever this time of year, but just like other things she was missing at the moment, she learned not to dwell on them.

"Are our other guests going to join in on the festivities?" Rose asked, referring to the infantry unit that still remained in town.

The Colonel had finally succeeded and kicked the loiterers out their building, but many of them still remained on the school grounds, camped out in the out buildings and stables. The human being that still resided in the Chief Nurse's heart felt for those cold, hungry men, but the pragmatist that she was forced to be knew that having a combat unit as house guests created a security risk. If the enemy found out the Allied troop locations, it was incredibly possible that they may be attacked. Rose really didn't feel like evacuating. Though she wasn't supposed to let herself get comfortable, it was hard not to with a location as both functional and comfortable as theirs.

"No, I doubt it…" Annie replied with a shrug. "Maybe if Amacher stops being such a scrooge and makes something we can take out to them…I feel sorry for those poor grunts."

"Yes, well…" Rose let out a grunt as she plopped down onto the side of the bed and leaned down to re-lace her boots. "There are a thousand other soldiers out there who won't be having the greatest Christmas either…"

* * *

Dick was dying…a slow, cold, excruciating death.

Technically, that over-exaggeration was correct in a physiological sense because frost bite killed skin, so in all actuality, Dick was dying. The wind felt like it was boring into his head through his eardrums like a drill bit every time it blew against his aching ears. His thin scarf helped slightly, but it mostly just made him look foolish. He, just like the rest of the Division, hadn't a scrap of cold weather gear. Only a handful of men had the stomach and or the right degree of demented detachment to take provisions off of the frozen, dead bodies that lay scattered throughout the Ardennes Forest like fallen logs buried in the snow. Dick had no qualms about taking ammunition or weapons from those who certainly wouldn't be using them anymore because it was what he'd been trained to do, a task that had to be done in the heat of battle when the lightness of an empty musset bag started to feel more like a noose around one's neck.

Over six months of constant war had hardened his resolve and allowed him to be pragmatic and insensitive even when the scene he saw before him should have made him fall down onto his knees and weep or empty his stomach. He had to be resourceful at times or perish, but taking something like clothing, or watches, wallets, even boots where completely different. They were far too personal, possessions that belonged in the hands of loved ones, not those of an unsympathetic soldier who happened to have the time to riffle though their dead comrade's pockets. Besides, being cold was better than being dead…wasn't it?

Dick stopped his feet in the snow, trying to beat some blood flow back into the numb limbs as he and the rest of the officers waited their turn as the enlisted men got their grub. At least he'd been religious about changing socks and he knew he didn't have trench foot, yet. He watched the slow line of men lumber towards a steaming pot for Joe's famous concoction of beans and god-only-knew broth. Dick didn't honestly care anymore what he was ingesting, just as long as it was warm. The supplies had been indeed stretch terribly thin and their Christmas Eve meal was going to probably be the last real meals until the air strips cleared and the Air Corps was able to drop more.

The most recent German tank assault had nearly eaten up all their ammunition earlier that morning. Easy had been hit head on with the point of it and as the Captain looked out on to those hardly recognizable, scruffy, chilled faces, he noticed more who weren't in the group than who were actually there. Smokey Gordon had been one of the latest losses who Dick deeply regretted. Gordon was one of the best. He may have not been the most athletic of the bunch, but he had the most determination and heart that Dick had ever seen in a man or soldier.

Dick looked past the line and his eyes quickly settled onto a lone man sitting against a tree. Eugene Roe looked like at frozen ice statue. Babe Heffron set a cup of soup down in Roe's idle hands, but he hardly even noticed. Clearly, his mind was preoccupied with something and Dick was probably the only man in Bastogne who knew a key factor for his blankness. Dick had calmed down from his first initial anger over the indirection he'd witnessed between Roe and the Belgium nurse. If Roe had showed up around the CP shortly after the trio of officers had return from town, Dick would have very well called him out right then and there, but that very moment was the first time he'd laid eyes on the medic since he'd caught that glimpse of him in that alley.

Suddenly, a roar of a Jeep caught Dick's attention and he turn to look over his shoulder as Colonel Sink's vehicle appeared out of the mist. The distinguished officer nimbly jumped out of the passenger seat before it even came to a stop.

"Can have sit down dinner of turkey and hooch back at the Division CP…" he announced as he walked around the front of the Jeep's bumper. "Damned if I don't like Joe Domigus's rancid-ass beans better…"

Sink always knew how to put things so eloquently.

Dick couldn't help but looking longingly at his clean, fur-lined jacket as the man stepped through the crowed of half frozen and mud covered Easy company members and bid 'hello'. The colonel approached Dick and they shook hands. He held out a piece of paper that held the message from General McAuliffe, but Dick turned down the offer to read it because he just didn't have the chops like the Colonel when it came to announcements. Plus, maybe the men would benefit from getting some one on one attention from the higher ups, if not to just get a good laugh out of it later when Luz impersonated him.

"Men!"

By the way Sink passionately shouted, Dick doubted he had even intended not to give the speech.

He walked in front of the crowd of shivering officers and Dick followed. As he read the sheet of paper, Dick glanced back over to Roe. The medic was still sitting against the tree with his cup still untouched in his hands. Dick couldn't tell if he was listening, or still back in the church at Bastogne. Dick decided right then that he was going to speak with him. He had to; it was his duty as an officer. Technically, the Battalion Executive Officer should have spoken to Roe's company commander, and if it would have been anyone else besides Dike, Dick would have done so. Besides, he was the one who saw what happened, plus Dick had known Roe for quite a while. Easy Company had lost so many good people during the siege that they couldn't afford to have their medic carousing around town with a nurse who also had her own duties to be attending to.

Suddenly, Rose's face flashed through the determined Captain's mind, making his insides jerk like he'd just hit the prop-blast out of a C-47…

"NUTS!" Sink shouted next to Dick, pulling him back into reality which replaced former lover's face with those of his soldier's.

A hearty chuckle went around the men, all except for Dick, who suddenly found himself caught in a bit of a hypocritical paradox.

"We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present…" Sink continued "Being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms, we are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas."

Dick could think of a few other privileges that weren't very gallant, but would have made for a much merrier Christmas in his mind. He meekly starred down at his snow dusted Corcorans. For the first time in his Army career, he had no idea what he was going to do about Roe. There was a vast difference when it came to the procedural action to take and the morally right. The man was seconds away from becoming another victim of combat fatigue, but how did his commander even broach the subject. Why should a man who's saved hundreds of lives be punished for finding comfort in this bleak world full of pain, suffering and death when he, Captain Quaker himself, did the very same thing and gotten away with it.

"A Merry Christmas to you all and God bless you."

With that, Sink slapped Dick on the back and walked through the throng of cheering men repeating their new favorite word. Even Dick couldn't withhold his own smile as he looked around at their cheerful faces. For a few moments, he forgot how miserable they all felt and all the sacrifices they'd made with both lives and limbs. How far away they were from their families and their loved ones. They weren't only fighting to save their own lives, they were fighting to save the whole outcome of the war in Europe. If it wasn't for the 101st's actions and keeping the Krauts out of Bastogne and its roads, Hitler would have his troops halfway to Paris.

However, one sideways glance over to a medic still sitting motionlessly against a tree quickly dissolved any optimism. They were still cold, still low on supplies, still had a great deal of work to do, and as far as Dick was concerned still down a medic.

"Nuts…" Lewis said as he stepped next to the Captain. "Knowing McAuliffe, his response was probably another favorite four letter word of his…" he mused. "But I suppose they couldn't very well print that on the front page of the Post." Lewis stood there, waiting for Dick to input or at least some sort of acknowledgment that he'd even spoke, but Lewis looked up and found his friend starring across frost covered helmets of the men. "What are looking at?" Lewis stretched his neck up to try and match Dick's vantage point.

Dick glanced down and away from Roe and shifted on his feet.

"Nothing…uh, just thinking…" he said with a raspy voice thick with congestion. He readjusted his M1 on his shoulder with numb fingers and looked down.

Lewis raised a thick, black eyebrow and glanced at Dick.

"You sure been thinking a lot 'bout nothing lately…" Lewis quipped as he pulled the collar of his jacket tighter around his neck.

Dick just shot him a quick side-ways glance.

Lewis had again noticed a change in Dick's demeanor since the other day. The Pennsylvanian Captain had suddenly buttoned up tighter than a nun's habit. Lewis was just starting to enjoy his friend's new found slyness, but instead of firing them right back, Lewis's wisecracks where bouncing off of Dick's steely exterior like rifle rounds against a tank.

"Come on…" Lewis gestured towards the line of Officers forming in front of the steaming pot. "Let's get something to eat…"

"No," Dick replied and coughed into his chest. "You go ahead. I'll wait a little bit."

Dick looked over in the rapidly darkening landscape, but the thin tree no longer held the weight of a Cajun medic. He grimaced and scanned the sea of gray clad soldiers, looking for one with an armband. Next to him, Lewis loudly blew his nose into a handkerchief and shrugged.

"Alright then…" the skeptical Captain replied. "I won't promise to save any…" he mumbled as he walked away.

Dick glanced at the retreating man's footsteps in the compacted snow for a moment before a bone-quivering shiver tore through his body. He reached up and lifted his helmet and pulled his scarf down from his head. His ears had their chance and they were probably goners already anyway. He couldn't take the cold air sneaking down under his collar and chilling his whole body. His stiff fingers struggled to manipulate the thin fabric into a position that would give him the most protection. Dick had to constantly remind himself that the best way to stay warm was to stop thinking about just how cold he was. He also had to stop thinking about the fact that less than a week ago he was looking forward to spending Christmas Day watching a football game that promised to be quite entertaining with hot, wholesome food filling his belly.

Captain looked over at the grub line and saw the remaining Battalion staffers lining up, as well as a few extra enlisted men who'd snuck back in line, with their cups outstretched like the little orphan boys in Oliver Twist. He looked back over into the crowd of soldiers and squinted into the darkness. A retreating figure caught the Captain's attention. The soldier wasn't carrying a weapon and he was too slender to be Spena. Dick took a step forward, ready to chase down the fraternizing medic, however, the hollow sound of a ladle scraping against an empty pot held him back. Dick knew if he didn't get in line, he'd been eating pine cones for dinner. A dense plume of vapor obscured his view of Roe as Dick let out a frustrated sigh. When the air cleared, he could no longer see the Medic in the dense forest. Dick grumble and an irritated frown weighed down his pale features. His stomach just cost him an opportunity and he had no choice but to go get in line.

He'd have to go find Roe later…


	17. Chapter 17 Silent Night

The Belgium night was exceptionally quiet. The air had a glacial stillness that blanketed the entire forest, which was void of all sounds except for his own chattering teeth and involuntary grunts that shivers coaxed from his throat. It felt like the world surrounding him had been frozen in time. Though previously unnerved, the lonely soldier was somewhat relishing in the near silence. Not a single rifle or artillery round rumbled or popped through the nose biting air in the distance. It was so quiet he could hear the snowflakes landing on top of the hard crust of snow. The fresh layers of pure white precipitation dusted the landscape and hid the frozen pools of blood and exposed dirt where mortar rounds had scarred the ground. In a matter of hours it would look just like another peaceful forest and not ground zero for death, starvation and homesickness on a traditionally joyous night.

Captain Winters almost felt guilty for disturbing the peacefulness as his scuffed, stiff boots crunched across the pristine earth and left ugly footprints in his wake. Dick stopped for a moment and looked at the ground ahead of him and gazed at an empty foxhole that had been occupied just a few hours before, blood from those occupants were all that remained. Past that was the line littered with strategically placed outposts. His trained eyes could just barely make out the rounded helmets floating just above the edge like green turtles in a mud puddle under their evergreen covers.

Dick shifted the slipping strap of his M1 up higher on his shoulder. His fingers struggled with the task. The thin gloves he wore felt like they were made of thick, sticky mud and it took just as much strength and effort to move them as it did to untangle a heavy log chain. He looked to his right down the never ending line of young pine trees and he found himself oddly mesmerized for a few moments. The trees were too skinny, that's what he hated most about the forest. He longed to gaze upon a grove of thick, gnarly oak trees that needed two people to reach their arms around the massive trunks. His parents had one in their backyard when he was a child. It was another structure he'd been banned from exploring. To indulge his need for air under his feet, his father installed a swing and the little, freckled-face boy spent hours kicking his feet up in the air, never knowing that someday he'd really get to fly. He loved swinging in the winter because a large snow drift always blew up against the fence and provided the perfect landing zone. None of the young, scrawny trees in the forest around him had boughs that could have supported a swing.

A cold, burst of reminder slapped him across the face and the Captain looked away from the derisory trees. Standing in the middle of a clearing less than thirty feet from the forward line was far from intelligent and was the exact thing he preached to his men not to do. While he'd been standing there the snow had stopped. Dick lifted his head and looked toward the outpost. He could see the helmets bobbing and hear faint mumbles of a conversation between the three men. He turned away from the line, but not before he threw one more glance over his shoulder. Maybe the night was too quiet. It was Christmas Eve after all. If there was ever a time to think your enemy had their guard down, tonight was the night.

He wiped his nose with the back of his stiff glove and started heading back into the depths of their position. Dick looked down at his folded arms as he walked, burying his frozen and raw face in his scarf. His breath against the thin wool warmed his chin.

A year ago at this very moment, Dick had been sitting in a cushy, winged-back chair, sipping tea in front of a crackling fireplace while Mr. Barnes read a passage from the Bible to his war-time family. Even Harry had been present, trading a night out at the pub for a warm fire and homemade biscuits on a chilly Christmas Eve. He sat on the rug and leaned his back against Dick's chair and listened with his eyes shut. He had mostly likely been dozing and not paying any attention, but Dick saw it in Mrs. Barnes' eyes that she was pleased with the Irishman's presence none the less. The Yank soldier never pretended to take the place of the aged coupled deceased son, but Dick did feel as though he filled a tiny bit of the void left in their hearts. They certainly eased the pain of his homesickness.

Suddenly, Dick's eyes spotted a crater in the ground ahead of him. It wasn't a shallow, torn-up divot made by an artillery shell. It was deep and precise, a text book example what a foxhole should look like with its mounded sides and just enough area for a body or two to sit in. Dick quickened his steps towards the prepared position, hoping the lone occupant could help him find the person he'd been aimlessly wandering around looking for. However, as Dick stepped out from under the darkness of the snow-laden tree boughs, he realized his search was over. His feet slowed and shuffled through the fresh layer of snow. The pallid face of Eugene Roe appeared from under the frosty, green helmet.

However, fear tightened it's cold, icy grip around Dick's heart as he looked down at the disturbingly still medic. Was he even alive? Had he frozen to death lying in that cold hole? Dick breathed short, shallow, excited breaths from his gaping mouth as he drew closer to the man. Thankfully, the Captain's sharp eyes spotted the tiny cloud of breath forming out of the parted lips just under his cheery red nose and a sigh of relief expelled from Dick's own lips before he pressed them together.

He slowly squatted down next the medic's foxhole, never breaking his gaze from the young man. He had an entire speech prepared in his head to give the insubordinate soldier about his duties and responsibilities as a medic and soldier in the United States Army. Dick was going to tell Roe how disappointed he was in him for his lack judgment and reckless conduct. He had to use everything he'd learned from Lewis and interrogate the medic and find out exactly what went on between him and the nurse and they'd both be punished accordingly. Roe would probably be busted down to a private and transferred off to some hospital unit because of his lack of combat training and be forced to a life of mopping floors. Dick knew Roe would never treat his former commander the same. It would ruin the respect shared between the two, but it was something that absolutely, without a doubt had to be done. Dick took another, careful breath, his vocal cords tensed, ready to say Eugene's name and wake him. The muscles of his numb face contracted as he opened his lips…

But, a sudden shift in the wind brought a familiar melody to his ears and stole the Captain's attention. Dick turned his head and looked through the trees and across the snow-blanketed clearing for the source of the Christmas Carol. The clear, rich baritone voice echoed and reverberated over no-man's land. It was both comforting and terribly unsettling to hear the harmony of voices join in. A painful knot suddenly formed in the bottom of Dick's stomach and whatever he was about to say to Roe was completely forgotten. Even if he could remember, Dick would do no such thing. He couldn't. A secret with striking brown eyes and a comforting touch kept him from doing so.

Dick turned his eyes back to Roe. Turmoil clouded them and the beautiful face of the woman he'd sworn off in his mind quickly pushed itself to the very forefront of his thoughts.

"Rose…" he whispered so softly that his own ears didn't even hear the utterance over the Kraut chorus across the line.

It was the first time since that sunny morning at the crowed train station that her name had come from his lips. Dick felt his shoulders slump with the weight of all the feelings he'd denied he still had for petite Lieutenant. He was a complete fool to think that he could simply forget her like an acquaintance he'd made while waiting in line at the post office. What was done was done, and there was no use of pretending it hadn't happened.

When Dick had needed somebody the most, she had come into his life. Even though he wasn't positioned on the line or in any eminent danger other than stabbing himself with his letter opener, the trooper had felt more lost and scared than that night he dropped into France. He didn't know what he was fighting for anymore. It was all TO and E's, supply mix-ups, request forms, signatures, casualties lists, and typing, so much damn typing. There was nothing, nothing to do but plan combat operations and look back on besides former operations that he'd never be a part of again. He didn't even think about what his life was like before he'd entered this hell. War was all he was knew about anything anymore. He'd told all that needed to be told and had heard all the stories about everyone around him. There was nothing new. He had nothing to look forward to or to reminisce on, until he saw her.

Rosemary walked, rather fell, in to his life just in time before Dick became another desensitized, battle-worn, grouchy desk officer who didn't really give a damn about what happened anymore. She reminded him of who he was, what he wanted from life, and what it could be like. She saved him, and probably some of his men as well for revitalizing their mentally exhausted Executive Officer. Hearing about her trials and tribulations gave him hope that as bad as things seemed, they somehow would always work out for the better.

So how could he punish another when he was guilty of the exact same crime, Dick questioned himself as he continued to stare and listen to the song.

It wasn't ten days ago he'd woken up in the wee hours of the morning with his limbs tangled in sheets and the soft skin of Rose's body, and there he was, about to chastise the overworked medic for finding comfort in this time of peril just as he had done himself. It was blatantly hypocritical, and if there was something a leader couldn't do, it was not abiding by the same rules he expected his men to, and then punish them while he got away with it scot-free.

Both he and Rose had known the danger of doing what they did in a hotel full of other troops. It was like committing a homicide in a police station. They knew the consequences of their actions, yet they went ahead and completely disregarded them anyway. Dick knew, despite not wanting to know, about the amount of shenanigans that most of the men in Easy Company had partaken in with the opposite sex since Toccoa. Bill Guarnere's current gait and painful grimace attested to it. Perhaps that was why Dick had jumped to conclusions so quickly when he saw Roe with Renée. The XO had no evidence to produce against the two. A fleeting glimpse in a dark alley way was hardly enough evidence to throw him in the stocks. For all he knew, that passionate embrace was as far as the two had gone.

The Captain certainly knew what he and Rose had done together. For as long as he lived, he'd never forget the passionate kisses and electrifying touches they shared in that hotel room. Maybe the reason Dick had been so enraged by what he saw the day before was because he was subconsciously jealous of Eugene. The person he cared for was less than a few miles away and was most certainly going to see again in the near future, whereas Dick didn't have the slightest clue where Rose was at the moment.

The sleeping medic shifted slightly in his half dug grave, startling the officer looming above him. Dick swallowed the forming lump in his throat and squeezed his eyes prickling eyes shut. He hated to admit it, but he missed her terribly. Though most of the unit was full of young, single bucks like himself, there were more than a few who had wives and special girls who they hadn't seen in over a year waiting for them at home. At least they had pictures and letters to lessen to loneliness. All Dick had was a memory and shirt tucked away in his footlocker hundreds of miles away that smelled of her perfume. Even if he could write her a letter, Dick didn't know for sure what unit she was attached to.

The Captain with a slowly breaking heart took a shaky breath, that wasn't caused by the cold, and stiffly stood back up. He knew had to retreat before Roe woke up and found his former company commander looming over him with a forlorn gaze contorting his face. Dick shifted the strap of his weapon on his shoulder again and squeezed his eyes shut. This was one mission that needed to fail. Roe was one of the finest medics in the entire unit and he'd been working tirelessly the entire time they'd been in Bastogne. By way things were looking, he was going to be needed more than ever. Dick had no right to disturb his much-needed slumber.

The tall Captain slowly backed away from the medic's foxhole and retraced his footprints and prayed that the snow would start again and hide the evidence that anyone had ever been there.

As he carefully weaved his way back through the maze of trees and foxholes, Dick's thoughts continued with Rose. A feeling grew in his heart that was just as pleasurable as it was painful. He had never felt the same way about anyone as he had about Rose. He'd had a girlfriend in college. She was a very nice girl and they got along very well, but they're goals in life were vastly different. It was no secret that she wanted settle down as soon as she could instead of finishing college. Dick was nowhere near ready to do anything of the sort and she got tired of waiting. Not long after they ended things, she found someone new and the last Dick heard she'd gotten married and already had three kids in as many years.

The feelings he had for her were nowhere near the magnitude he felt for Rosemary. It only took an hour of conversation with her to make Dick feel as if he'd known her his entire life. Deep down, Dick was very much so in love with her, he knew it the moment they locked eyes. That's why the normally shy officer was able to ask her to dinner, why he almost kissed her on the street, why he couldn't stay away from her even when he knew it was incredibly irresponsible of him. Everything that happened between them transpired because of the love they secretly shared, even though they both pretended it was merely lust.

Alas, neither of them was in a position to do a thing about those feelings. It wasn't like he could just hop in a Jeep and drive past the Krauts and their tanks to go find her. Even if they weren't completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of the Allied forces, Dick couldn't go AWOL or even think about leaving his men, nor could she leave her post. They both had important responsibilities that the lives of those around them depended on.

They were two people in love caught up in the epicenter of the most devastatingly awesome conflict the world had ever seen. War. The very thing that brought their lives together in the first place was now the thing that kept the lovers apart. It was a beast that had no mercy or any regard for the lives it affected. What everyone thought was going to be over with by tomorrow now had no foreseeable end.

The only option Dick had in order to get through all of it was to keep fighting. The chances of he and Rose's lives ever intersecting again where one in a million, but they would be zero if he let himself succumb to powers that be and get himself killed. That little reminder seemed to give his step a little more spring. He had a job to do. He had lives to look out for. Pushing Rose out of his mind clearly had been just as devastating as thinking about her every second of the day. He'd have to find a happy medium.

Dick came to another clearing not far from the Battalion CP and stopped in the middle of it. He could hear the soft chatter of voices filtering out of the surrounding foxholes. He even heard a chuckle break through the frigid air. He might have not had the woman he loved with him, but he did have damn good group of soldiers who cared just as much about his safety as he did for theirs. That was the best a man is his position could ask for.

For some reason, Dick didn't feel as cold anymore. It might have been because most of his body was already too numb to notice, but he didn't feel the need to implode to find warmth inside his body. It felt good to relax his arms and let them hang down at his sides. Dick suddenly glanced up at the sky that was framed by the snowy tree tops. He was always taught to bow his head when he prayed, but since Dick had come pretty close to meeting God more than his fair share, he figured he'd earned a more direct meeting.

As his light greenish-blue eyes gazed up at the clouds, he reminded Him of their previous deal they'd made that past summer. However, he asked for another favor. He asked God to keep extra an eye on a quick-witted nurse who was somewhere on the same continent as him and keep her out of harms way.

Dick let out a sigh, but with a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his chapped, wind-burned lips. He also thanked him for bringing her into his life, even if it was for such a short time. Tiny flakes of perfect, little snowflakes began to fall again ever so gently on his face. Though Dick's faith had been tested several times over in the last few months, he took it as a sign that somebody had been listening.

* * *

"Deck the hall with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la-laaaaa-la-la-la-la! 'Tis the season to be jolly, fa-la…" the ramshackle chorus of three nurses, two tone-deaf orderlies, a soulful ambulance driver, and four patients sang loudly along to Elaine's piano playing up on the stage.

For the first time since they had arrived at the abandoned school, sounds of joy and cheer echoed through the hallways. Nearly all the occupants were congregated in the high-ceilinged auditorium in a circle of cots and chairs. Charlie and Corporal Jenson and a select group of officers and NCOs sat around a makeshift poker table with short stacks of nickels and dimes piled in front of them. Others sat around in small groups and chitchatted while they nibbled on what Sergeant Amacher called 'cookies'.

Annie had been busy running from group to group all evening, making sure all had holiday cheer and something to drink. It certainly had been the most fun anybody had enjoyed in the last week or so. Jokes and stories were being told left and right and the only tears where those that came from too much laughter. Rose walked into the hall with a stack of typing paper cradled in her arms that were soon to be made into ornaments for the scrubby, little tree Corporal Jenson had found on the grounds. The Chief Nurse paused for a moment by the door and took in the scene. The local priest and Father Beckman were sharing and laugh and Ma'ma Marie was trying to teach one of the young privates with a broken ankle how to speak a few lines of French. There wasn't a sour face in the room, except for Mildred, but everyone just figured her face had gotten stuck like over the years. All that were missing were sugared up kids and a dog sleeping by the fireplace.

Rose couldn't help but smile. It had been a long time since she'd seen the happy faces outnumber the sad ones.

Suddenly, Corporal Flint appeared disturbingly close to her side.

Rose looked up as his mischievously handsome grin with a raised brow. When he wasn't being a complete pain in the ass, the fun-loving baseball announcer was very likeable. He was like the goofy, yet funny sidekick who always managed to steal the show from the main act. With his wiry, curly brown hair and sly, little smirk, it was hard not to fall for his charms and smooth talking abilities. He had quite the reputation and seemed determined to get a girlfriend in every country he served in.

"Something you need, Rocky…" she inquired unperturbedly.

He didn't say a word, but he raised his arm up above his head and smiled cunningly. Rose glanced up at the bunch of pine sprigs tied with a shoelace he held in his hand. She rolled her eyes and looked back down into his awaiting grin and gave him a look.

"Corporal, you know that's not mistletoe, right?" she asked.

"Hey, a fella hasta' get creative in these desperate times…" he shrugged with a gleeful grin still twinkling in his playful brown eyes.

"Well, this gal isn't desperate…" Rose retorted with a slow shake of her head and a raised brow.

Flint broke out his best seductive smile and put his free hand over his heart.

"Oh, Lieutenant Beyer…" he said as if he was in some sort of pain. "You know the way you deny me with such exceptional skill and ease only makes me love you more…"

Rose let out a quick laugh and shook her head again. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd made overtures to her and she was quite certain it wouldn't be the last.

"Has that worked on anybody at all?" she bluntly inquired, motioning to the sappy needles still above his head.

The smile fell from Flint's face and he dejectedly dropped his arm to his side.

"Nah," he shrugged. "Notta' one…But I haven't gotten slapped yet, so I figure that's something…" he held his free palm up before it dropped back against his thigh with a muffled slap.

The Lieutenant closed her eyes and chuckled before she patted the unsuccessful Casanova on the arm. He flashed her one last grin before he took off to find a female who was a bit more gullible than her. Rose rolled her eyes and pushed a stray hair back behind her ear. It was both somewhat flattering and incredibly frustrating to be constantly flirted with. Flint had been bugging her ever since she joined the unit. However, despite the fact he was only a corporal and off-limits, he also reminded her of her brother, Henry. That alone made her impermeable to his charms.

She continued her trek down the long room and set the stack of paper on the table where June and a few other nurse's cut stars, bells, snowflakes and gingerbread men out of the white scraps of paper.

"Ah, thank you Rosemary…" June said in her singsongy voice. "I hope you didn't steal all this from my desk?" she jokingly asked as she took a one of the long sheets and started cutting into it with an old pair of surgical scissors.

"No ma'am." Rose replied. "I always follow the chain of command." she paused to make sure Mildred wasn't in earshot. "I swiped it from Lieutenant Clarke's drawer." she said smugly.

The group, even June, irrupted in a fit of laughter. Rose smiled and picked up a handful of scraps from the table and dropped them into a waste bin. She looked around the table at the collection of makeshift ornaments. They were all very neat and tidy with crisp strait edges and perfectly proportioned shapes. Rose wouldn't have expected anything less than such attention to detail from women who cleaned every speck of debris from wounds before stitching them closed with perfect, straight sutures.

"Nina, that's beautiful." Rose complemented after spotting the intricate three-dimensional star the older 2nd Lieutenant was folding out of paper. "Where did you learn that?"

"A friend taught me," the San Franciscan with dark brown hair and a mouth full of large teeth replied. "We used to make them out of newspaper to decorate my grandmother's house fern when we couldn't afford a tree."

"At least you had plant to decorate..." Rita piped up next to her. "Instead of a tree my Pop hung a side of beef in Ma's kitchen and stuck a star at the top! We'd haf'ta slice our own cuts off and that was our Christmas present!"

Another round of laughter traveled across the table, except Rose found the horrified grimace on June's face more amusing.

"Hey, I'd give anything for a nice, juicy prime cut porterhouse steak instead of the rat meat he's been making us…" Rita exclaimed with a finger pointed at Amacher who just happened to be blowing his nose into a filthy looking dishtowel.

The nurses' squeals of disgust and laughter where interrupted by the jingle of piano keys. Everyone turned their attention and immediately quieted down when they saw Colonel Jackson standing up on the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" his commanding, yet pleasant antebellum drawl projected throughout the hall. "I just wanted to say a few quick words and I'll let you get back to the festivities."

Mervin R. Jackson was a tall, barrel-chested South Carolinian with a steely stare and sternly set jaw. He was a career officer who'd worked his way up through the ranks and gotten his medical degree through the Army. He'd treated the wounded in the first Great War and fought malaria in the Panama. He was also a distant relative to old Stonewall Jackson. His salt and pepper hair was never out of place and his uniform was always perfectly creased. He was incredibly intimidating. If one wasn't utterly frightened the first time he looked at you, then you must have been dead. But as scary as he could be, he was an excellent leader who got the best out of the people who worked under him. He was also very understanding and a good surgeon. Though Rose rarely had many doings with him, she did like him and got along with him quite well.

"I first want to thank Lieutenant Scofield for organizing such a fine gathering." he motioned his large hand towards Annie who smiled bashfully and waved to the crowd. "I just wish you could have found us more whiskey…" he said and got a hearty chuckle out of the audience. "I know everyone in this room would rather be celebrating this holy night back in the comfort of your own homes in the loving company of your families. Holidays are always painful reminders of how far from our loved ones we are…but," he looked around at the suddenly morose crowd and smiled "I wouldn't want to be with any other unit than this fine establishment on a night like tonight…you people are the best of the best! We have the highest survival rate of any mobile medical unit in the entire ETO. Ya'll are with no doubt the finest group of medical professionals I have ever served with. I raise my glass to you" he said and raised his chipped coffee mug and looked around the crowd with a twinkle in his steely, hard blue eyes that was so bright everyone could see the admiration in the dimly lit room. Jackson even broke a smile as he took in the whooping and cheering that came from his underlings.

"Now, if our good Father would allow an old Southern Methodist giving it a go," he looked down at the thin haired Catholic Chaplin with a smile. "I'd like to say a quick prayer."

"We are all God's children!" the Father granted with a raise of his glass.

"Alright then, if you would please bow your heads." The Colonel asked soberly.

Rose folded her hands in front of her belly and closed her eyes. However, it wasn't half a second they were shut and a redheaded paratrooper's face popped into sight.

"Lord…" Jackson began. "Thank you for all that you have given us these past few years. Thank you for all the bleeders that have stopped, the fevers that broken, and the eyes that have opened after a long coma. Give us the strength to continue as we tend over the wounded sheep in your flock. Grant us open eyes and alert minds when they are needed to most and please forgive us of our sins we may commit during these harrowing times."

Rose felt her heart skip a beat.

"Please watch over our families that we've left behind while we serve our country. And please oh Lord, watch over those brave souls who tonight on the most holy of nights are out in the cold, snowy battlefields and the mosquito invested jungles. Grant them the strength and safety to keep fighting as they protect the weak and all that is good."

Rose could feel the painful pressure working up from her throat to her face as she desperately held back the urge to break out sobbing. If she'd been able to open her eyes, she would have seen she wasn't the only one struggling to make it through the prayer with dry cheeks.

"Oh, and please Lord." There was a change in Jackson's tone as he added the post script onto the prayer. "Tell Santa that all we and the rest of the Allied Forces want for Christmas is a hundred pound block of TNT dropped down Hitler's chimney..."

The sullen atmosphere was suddenly disrupted by rowdy laughter and hollers of approval from the entire audience. Much to her relief, Rose was able to open her aching eyes and join in on the applause.

"AMEN!" Jackson cheerfully concluded and was answered by an equally enthusiastic echo of 'amen's'. "Now, Lt Parker…how 'bout another round of 'Joy to the World'?"

"Yes, sir." she gladly complied and began playing the opening chords on the out of tune piano.

Rose looked around as the personnel shook hands and hugged one another as everyone began to sing the first verses. Annie appeared at Rose's side and gave her a friendly shove. The two women grinned ear to ear at each other. As much as they'd suffered the last few days, the night was certainly making up for it. But then again, making the best out of the worst situations was what they'd done nearly every day of their lives the last few years. The tasteless cookies and paper gingerbread men weren't exactly how mama used to make them, but they were something. Rose was at least thankful that she was on dry land and wasn't covered in blood this Christmas. It may have been a morbid thing to be happy about, but in the present situation, it was as good as it got. It may not be everyone's most favorite Christmas, but it would certainly be the most memorable.

Alas, it would indeed be a night that she'd never, ever forget. As Rose's alto voice joined in and found the harmony with Annie's soprano, she almost forgot they were in the middle of a dangerous war zone. Rosemary had no idea that the man she'd shared her secrets and bed with had just barely missed being killed by a mortar round. She didn't know that the first aid advice she given her former lover had probably saved his best friend's life. She, nor anyone else in that room, was aware of an air attack that was taking place over the small, under siege town of Bastogne. She didn't know that the worst was yet to happen because no one knew that those very same planes where headed to Verviers…

* * *

Yes, I know. I just left you stranded with a huge cliffhanger…I know, you all hate me. Thanks for reading!


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